WOOD MEMORIAL : Devil His Due Wins by a Length

A year ago, Cahill Road won the Wood Memorial, came back to the winner’s circle lame and never raced again. On Saturday, Devil His Due won the same Kentucky Derby prep, but his trainer, Allen Jerkens, indicated that the colt might not run at Churchill Downs on May 2.

“I would prefer not to go to the Derby,” Jerkens said. “That would be a lot of racing for this horse in such a short time. We’ll think it over. A 50-50 chance? I’d say that that would be it, tops. I don’t believe in overdoing a horse.”

The Hall of Fame trainer said that he would make a decision on Tuesday about the Derby. Edith LiButti, who owns Devil His Due, said that running in the Derby has been her dream since she bought her first horse in 1973, but that she would let Jerkens make the decision.

Unraced as a 2-year-old, Devil His Due was running for the sixth time this year and the third time in a month. He won the $500,000 Wood by a length on a chilly, overcast day that brought 18,325 to Aqueduct. The Devil’s Bag-Plenty O’Toole colt gave Jerkens, 62, his biggest day in racing. He started five horses on the card and won with four of them, with Missy’s Mirage and Belong To Me also winning stakes.

Devil His Due, ridden by Mike Smith for the first time, was second behind Goldwater, passed him at the head of the stretch and then held off the closers, West By West and Rokeby. West By West, who was 31-1, finished second, two lengths ahead of Rokeby, the British colt who came from last place in a field of 12 to take third in his first American start.

Rokeby finished a neck in front of Snappy Landing. Careful Gesture finished fifth, followed by the filly Queen Of Triumph, Chief Speaker, Goldwater, Jacksonport, Surely Six, Best Decorated and Pie In Your Eye. Thunder Rumble, the 7-2 morning-line favorite, was scratched after running a 103-degree overnight temperature.

Devil His Due’s time for 1 1/8 miles over a track labeled good was 1:49 1/5, after Goldwater had fractions of 23 2/5, 47 and 1:11. Devil His Due, one of only two horses in the race wearing mud caulks--special horseshoes--ran the final eighth of a mile in 13 1/5.

Snappy Landing, despite only one victory in seven starts, went off a slight 5-2 favorite, with Devil His Due paying $7.60 and earning $300,000.

All of the horses carried 126 pounds--Kentucky Derby weight--except Queen of Triumph, who carried 121.

The late runs made by West By West and Rokeby were deceptive. “My horse was looking around,” Smith said of Devil His Due. “He wasn’t running all out. He might have slowed up, but he had outrun the others by then. Allen told me that he might try to cheat a little, which he did. He had more than he showed, and if he had to run faster, he could have.”

Devil His Due moved into stakes company March 14 and was a well-beaten fourth in the Swale Stakes. Back in New York on April 4, Devil His Due was ridden by Herb McCauley for the first time and finished in a dead heat with Lure for first in the one-mile Gotham Stakes.

McCauley was committed to ride Thunder Rumble Saturday, then wound up on the sidelines when that colt remained in the barn.

Rusty Arnold, the trainer of West By West, said the Kentucky Derby is still a possibility. Ian Balding, who saddled Rokeby Saturday before he goes to owner Paul Mellon’s New York trainer, Mack Miller, didn’t sound as though the Derby was likely.

“This horse will get a mile and a half (the Belmont Stakes distance), but I don’t think that’s good enough to go to the Derby (1 1/4 miles),” Balding said.

Horse Racing Notes

In another Aqueduct stake for 3-year-olds, Al Sabin won by a neck over Justfortherecord in the Cahill Road. Al Sabin, ridden by Kent Desormeaux, was timed in 1:49 1/5, the same time as Devil His Due’s. Al Sabin, winning for the third time in 13 starts, was seventh in the Lure-Devil His Due Gotham. “Our plans for Al Sabin are indefinite,” said Jeff Lukas, who saddled the colt for his father, Wayne.