Borel to Ride Jackson Bend in Wood

Calvin Borel will ride Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth (gr. II) runner-up Jackson Bend in the April 3 Wood Memorial (gr. I), replacing Jeremy Rose, trainer Nick Zito said March 8.

“It speaks for itself,” Zito said. “He’s Calvin Borel and he’s a tremendous rider. He has great hands and we just decided to make a change. Jeremy didn’t do anything wrong.”

Zito also said that Kent Desormeaux has been named to ride Ice Box in the Florida Derby (gr. I). The son of Pulpit finished fifth in the Fountain of Youth after making a big sweeping move from 10^th to fourth on the far turn.

As for Zito’s other top 3-year-olds, Tuvia's Force, third in a recent allowance race, will run in Saturday’s Tampa Bay Derby (gr. III) and Fly Down, a game winner of an allowance race at Gulfstream is an outside possibility for the Louisiana Derby (gr. II). “He’s s longshot to make the race, but never say never,” Zito said. “That was a hard race he ran last time out and you want to make sure you don’t knock them out.”

Zito’s best 3-year-old could be Miner's Reserve, who is coming off a brilliant 5 1/2-length maiden score Feb. 27. Zito said he likely will look for an allowance race for the son of Mineshaft , and then use the Derby Trial (gr. III) as a prep for the Preakness (gr. I).