Wood win puts Nobiz Like Shobiz in favorite's spot

~ Tagg's entry in Derby likely will be horse to beat.

NEW YORK -- From start to finish in the Wood Memorial, Nobiz Like Shobiz showed why there's a good chance he will be the favorite to win the Kentucky Derby.

The colt overcame self-imposed challenges as well as those from his rivals and won his final Derby prep Saturday at Aqueduct with a professional effort that has trainer Barclay Tagg feeling pretty confident.

"I thought he handled everything well," Tagg said Sunday morning at Belmont Park. "He's a pretty classy horse."

Nobiz Like Shobiz had plenty to handle in Saturday's 1 1/8-mile Wood.

Nobiz Like Shobiz, ridden by Cornelio Velasquez, ran to victory at Wood Memorial horse race Saturday at Aqueduct in New York. (Adam Coglianese ~ Associated Press)

With cotton stuffed in his ears and wearing blinkers for the first time to keep him focused on running straight, Nobiz Like Shobiz broke quickly from the inside post. Too quickly. Jockey Cornelio Velasquez had to wrestle the colt off the lead, then charged back into contention along the backstretch.

Around the final turn, Nobiz Like Shobiz first shook off Summer Doldrums then Any Given Saturday before withstanding a late run by Sightseeing for a half-length victory.

"I was hoping Sightseeing wouldn't get him. It looked like it, but Nobiz Like Shobiz kept digging in," Tagg said. "To do all that was a pretty difficult thing for him."

The race alleviated concerns Tagg had about his colt's erratic behavior in last month's Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park, when Nobiz Like Shobiz lugged in during the stretch and finished third.

"It had to help," Tagg said of the blinkers and the cotton.

With his fourth victory in six starts, Nobiz Like Shobiz ran himself back to the favorite's role, where he was at the start of the Derby prep season.

Tagg won the Derby and Preakness with long shot Funny Cide in 2003, and last year finished sixth with Showing Up. Asked if he has the horse to beat this time, Tagg said: "I hope so."

The results of three Derby preps Saturday produced a major shakeup among the contenders:

• Any Given Saturday, trained by Todd Pletcher, finished third in the Wood -- his second tough race in three weeks.
• Cowtown Cat, also trained by Pletcher, punched his Churchill ticket by winning Saturday's $500,000 Illinois Derby at Hawthorne Race Course.
• Two other prospects, King of the Roxy and Sam P., finished second and third behind Tiago in Saturday's Santa Anita Derby, and remained Derby possibilities. Tiago, whose only victory in three previous starts came by disqualification, is the half-brother to 2005 Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo.
• Circular Quay passed on the Wood, as Pletcher said his colt would train up to the Derby -- an unusually long eight-week break between races.

On Sunday, the horse worked five furlongs in 58.40 over Keeneland's Polytrack.