Frosted Heats Up in Wood Memorial

Major changes by his connections helped Frosted earn a win in the Wood Memorial. (Photos by Eclipse Sportswire)
By Tom Pedulla, America’s Best Racing
JAMAICA, N.Y. – Frosted had been largely an exercise in frustration for trainer Kiaran McLaughlin and his staff – until the Wood Memorial on Saturday.
With a trip to the Kentucky Derby at stake, he atoned for past disappointments in a big way, rolling to a convincing two-length victory against longshot Tencendur in the $1-million Wood Memorial at Aqueduct Racetrack.
“We know he has a ton of ability and the last race really made us scratch our heads, asking why he would go to the lead and throw his head up and stop,” said McLaughlin. “We did everything we could to change everything we possibly could.”
And he means everything. No stone was left unturned.
Minor surgery was performed to help keep the gray-roan son of Tapit from displacing his palate. They worked with the good-looking 3-year-old in the morning to make him more comfortable passing horses.
“We put two nice horses in front of him,” McLaughlin said of one morning exercise, “and he blew by them.”
They also made the difficult call of changing jockeys, switching from Irad Ortiz Jr. to Joel Rosario, winner of the Kentucky Derby two years ago with Orb. McLaughlin emphasized he did not blame recent failures on Ortiz.
“We changed jockeys just because we changed everything,” he said.
Lastly, the decision was made to change tracks after Frosted placed second to Upstart in the Holy Bull (G2) in his 3-year-old debut at Gulfstream Park and endured a bitterly disappointing fourth-place showing after he made the lead in the Fountain of Youth (G2).
“We tried to cover all the issues,” McLaughlin said. “It’s a good feeling to get it all right.”
FROSTED'S CONNECTIONS IN THE WINNER'S CIRCLE

Frosted, owned by Godolphin Stable and bred by Darley in Kentucky, earned 100 points for his Wood breakthrough, more than enough to qualify for the 20-horse Kentucky Derby field.
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McLaughlin, noting that Frosted overcame a wide trip here, said of the Derby distance, “No problem, especially after today, racing like he did. I don’t think an extra eighth of a mile is going to hurt us.”
Frosted won for only the second time in seven lifetime starts. He placed second on four other occasions.
Tencendur, a New York-bred that made a significant improvement after running a lackluster fifth in the Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct, earned 40 points for his runner-up finish. That also figures to qualify him for the Run for the Roses.
“I’m from Louisville and I’d love to run in the Derby,” said George Weaver, his trainer. “As long as the horse is in good shape, I’d be inclined to go.”
El Kabeir, a winner of the Jerome and Gotham here, attempted in vain to close into a sluggish pace and could do no better than third. Favored Daredevil ran fourth as part of a seven-horse field. Frosted covered the mile-and-an-eighth in 1:50.31 on a fast surface. He returned $6.40 for every $2 win wager.
C.C. Lopez, 54, was bidding to win his first Grade 1 race aboard El Kabeir. “The only glitch was he kinda got himself a little further back than I wanted him going to the half-mile pole,” Lopez said. “Other than that, I think he ran the race he was supposed to run, just not a lot of pace to run at.”
John Terranova, trainer of El Kabeir, remained optimistic.
“If he comes back out of this well, I think we’ll get a lot stronger pace in a race like the Derby and he can sit back and close. He’s done that twice,” he said. “I thought he made up a lot of ground there in the stretch.”