ROUNDUP : Stevens Takes Over as Irgun Wins the Wood

There is no choice to be made for Gary Stevens. He will ride Brocco in the Kentucky Derby on May 7.

Still, the jockey didn’t mind keeping company with Irgun for one day at Aqueduct in New York.

Three weeks after an easy victory in the Gotham under Jerry Bailey in his first race in New York, Irgun came back to win the $500,000 Wood Memorial on Saturday, defeating favored Go For Gin by 1 1/2 lengths in 1:49 for the 1 1/8 miles.

With Bailey committed to Go For Gin, Stevens became the third jockey to win on Irgun, who has had only four starts. Eddie Delahoussaye rode when the Sunny’s Halo colt broke his maiden on Feb. 5.

Owned by Brandon and Marianne Chase and trained by Steve Young, Irgun, the 9-5 second choice Saturday, led all of the way on a track listed as “good.” Go For Gin, who was nearly nine lengths ahead of third-place finisher Shiprock, suffered his first loss in four starts at Aqueduct.

“He’s a good horse,” Young said of Irgun, who bears the name of the Jewish underground organization once led by the late Israeli prime minister, Menachem Begin. “He just keeps jumping the hurdles. I think he’s going to go to Kentucky on Tuesday.”

Stevens was more than happy to pinch-hit Saturday in the Grade I race.

“I felt like they brought me in in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded and they pitched a high fast ball at me and I knocked it out of the park,” he said. “I had a lot of confidence in this colt. In all actuality, I think he should be undefeated.

“I knew I had a lot of horse at the quarter pole. He showed a ton of talent.”

Go For Gin, who got to within a half-length approaching the stretch, probably also will go to Kentucky.

“I knew (Irgun) was a good horse,” Bailey said. “He’s very talented. I got even on the far turn, but that was it.”

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Last in the San Francisco Mile at Golden Gate Fields in his first start in more than 10 months, Norwich bounced back Saturday and won the $132,100 El Rincon Handicap at Santa Anita.

Ridden by Pat Valenzuela and coupled in the betting with Pembroke, the 7-year-old led all the way in ending 7-10 favorite Megan’s Interco’s winning streak at five. He won by nearly two lengths in 1:34 for the mile on turf, and the entry paid $9.60.

Angry over what he said was “team riding” by Chris Antley on last-place finisher Pembroke, Corey Black, Megan’s Interco’s rider, threw a punch at Antley in the jockey’s room, leading to a brief scuffle.

“I would try to move up and every time I tried to move up, (Antley) would slow down in front of me,” Black said. “I almost clipped his heels on the first turn. On the back side and turning for home, he takes me out to the middle of track. It seemed to me like it was a case of team riding.”

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King’s Blade, who floundered when tried on the turf and finished last as the 9-10 favorite in the Baldwin Stakes, returned to his preferred surface and won the $110,700 San Pedro Stakes.

After breaking a step slowly from the outside post under Delahoussaye, the 3-year-old Wavering Monarch gelding quickly took control and went on to defeat 11-1 shot Al Renee by a half-length in 1:16 1/5 for the 6 1/2 furlongs.

The 2-1 favorite paid $6 for his fourth victory in six lifetime starts. Halloween Treat, the 3-1 second choice, was 1 1/4 lengths behind Al Renee.

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No California Derby winner has won the Kentucky Derby, and that’s not going to change this year.

Screaming Don, the longest shot in the field of seven, rallied to win the $200,000 race at Golden Gate Fields, and the only Derby his trainer Lanny Sharp mentioned afterward was the Colorado Derby in July.

Beaten in both the Southwest and Rebel at Oaklawn Park before shipping to California, the Lyphard’s Ridge colt took advantage of a perfect trip to beat 6-1 shot Silver Music. Favored Dramatic Gold and second choice Bai Brun both weakened after battling with Double Jab, who finished third, for the lead.

Previously, Screaming Don, who paid $103.60 and was ridden by Adalberto Lopez, had won five of six starts at Turf Paradise. He completed the 1 1/8 miles in 1:48 1/5.

Horse Racing Notes

Corrazona, an impressive winner of her American debut on March 16, is the 8-5 morning-line favorite against five opponents in the $154,000 Santa Anita Budweiser Breeders’ Cup today. Shipped to trainer Richard Mandella after winning three of eight in France, the 4-year-old El Gran Senor filly won by 2 1/4 lengths in 1:34 4/5 for the mile on turf, the same distance she will be running today. Chris McCarron will ride. The rest of the field: Cargo, Skimble, Shooting The Moon, Island Orchid and Lyphard’s Delta. . . . Pat Valenzuela won three times at Santa Anita on Saturday.