G3 Gotham winner Raise Cain possible for G2 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino

Andrew N. Warren and Rania Warren’s Raise Cainearned a career-best 90 Beyer Speed Figure for his authoritative score in Saturday’s Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham at Aqueduct Racetrack. The son of Violence earned 50 points towards the Run for the Roses with his 7 1/2-length conquest and is now fifth on the leaderboard with 54 total points.

Raise Cain entered the one-turn mile Gotham – the penultimate local Kentucky Derby qualifier – off an uncharacteristic fifth in the Leonatus on January 21 over the all-weather surface at Turfway Park. This effort came following a second in the Gun Runner on December 26 at Fair Grounds Race Course, where he earned four points on the Derby trail.

Trainer Ben Colebrook said Raise Cain could return to New York for the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino, which is the final local qualifier for the Kentucky Derby. The bay colt also could remain at his Keeneland base for the Grade 1, $1 million Blue Grass. Both races are slated for April 8 and award the top-five finishers points based off a 100-40-30-20-10 scale.

“We’re based at Keeneland and if it wasn’t for that, the Wood would be circled. I guess we’ll just sit back and see how the nominations are,” Colebrook said. “If one is significantly easier than the other, that would change our thinking. If you don’t have to ship, why do it? But the Blue Grass could come up significantly tougher. In which case, we would go to the Wood.”