KENTUCKY DERBY PREPS Tapit comes from way back in Wood

The Wood Memorial has produced three of the last four Derby winners.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK -- Tapit is on his way to the Kentucky Derby.
Bouncing back from the only loss of his career, Tapit caught Master David in the deep stretch and won Saturday's $750,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct.
The victory stamped the big gray colt as a 3-year-old to reckon with in the May 1 Kentucky Derby, a race that is still looking for a clear-cut favorite.
The Wood has produced three of the last four Derby winners, and there could be another one from this 11-horse field.
Tapit, though, will be going against Derby history. Trained by Michael Dickinson, the son of Pulpit will go to Churchill Downs trying to become the first horse since Sunny's Halo in 1983 to win the Derby off just two starts as a 3-year-old.
Tapit, who was last after the first quarter-mile, earned $450,000 for owner Ronald Winchell in winning the Grade 1 race. More importantly, he now has $530,000 in graded stakes earnings. If more than 20 horses are entered for the Derby, only the top 20 graded-stakes earners qualify. Tapit currently is in the top five.
Master David qualifies
Also gaining enough graded stakes earnings to qualify was runner-up Master David, who finished a half-length behind Tapit and jockey Ramon Dominguez.
Master David, racing for the first time in more than two months, earned $150,000 for owner Peter Minikes of Georgica Farm, and boosted his graded stakes total to $208,000.
Entering the Wood, Tapit was ranked 28th on the graded earnings list, with Master David, trained by Bobby Frankel, 33rd.
Eddington, with Jerry Bailey aboard, was a nose behind Master David in third, and that slim margin may have cost him a Derby spot. Eddington was ranked 42nd coming in and earned $75,000 for third, but his total of $95,000 doesn't put him in the Top 20.
Swingforthefences was fourth, followed by Royal Assault, Value Plus, Little Matth Man, Cuba, Consecrate, Sinister G and Hornshope.
Winning time for the 11/8-mile Wood was 1:49.70.
In his 3-year-old debut, Tapit was a disappointing sixth in the Florida Derby on March 13, but Dickinson said the colt came out of the race with mucus in his lungs. He only became healthy in the past week, Dickinson said.
The Florida Derby was Tapit's first race after a four-month layoff. He won his first two starts, a maiden race in Delaware Park and the Laurel Futurity on Nov. 15. During the layoff, he also missed 19 days of training with sore shins.
Blue Grass Stakes
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- The Cliff's Edge rallied in the final furlong to beat favored Lion Heart by a half-length in the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland.
Winning for the first time in three races as a 3-year-old, The Cliff's Edge assured trainer Nick Zito of at least one horse in the Kentucky Derby.
Zito won the 11/8-mile Blue Grass for the third time, having also done so in 1991 with Strike the Gold (who went on to win to give Zito the first of his two Derby wins) and in 1998 with Halory Hunter.
Zito joined Woody Stephens, Ben Jones and LeRoy Jolley on the list of three-time Blue Grass winners. No trainer has won the race four times.
The Cliff's Edge, one of a trio of horses to go off at 6-1 odds, wasn't a factor in the race under jockey Shane Sellers until the late stages.
Lion Heart, Limehouse and Preachinatthebar engaged in an early duel. Lion Heart, the 4-5 favorite, held a 2 1/2 length lead with 3-8 mile left.
Arkansas Derby
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. -- A horse from Philadelphia is on his way to Churchill Downs.
Smarty Jones remained undefeated in six races, stalking Purge just as he had last month in the Rebel and charging past him on the turn to win the $1 million Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park.