AIKEN –TRAINED BOB AND JOHN WINS WOOD MEMORIAL

Leading the charge of horses that trained in South Carolina and won races in the spring was Bob McNair’s BOB AND JOHN when he captured the $750000 Wood Memorial(G1) at Aqueduct on April 9th.Bob and John had trained with Tim Jones at Stonerside”s Aiken ,SC facility .Jones said that Bob and John was eye-catching even as a yearling. “I always thought he was a nice horse. When he left here everyone thought he would win a Derby somewhere.” Bob and John also has the distinction of being the 100th stakes winner for Stonerside when he won the Sham Stakes on February 4th at Santa Anita.

In the Wood ,Bob and John ,named for Bob McNair and Stonerside’s racing manager John Adger, sat behind a brisk pace set by Keyed Entry then responded when jockey Garrett Gomez asked him for run at the top of the stretch .The Bob Baffert trainee surged ahead over the sloppy racetrack to win by 1 ½ lengths completing the 1 1/8 mile in 1:51.54.

The spring has been good to many other Stonerside horses trained in Aiken .Allowance winners include four year old Maria’s Mon filly MILLIBAR, four year old Fusaichi Pegasus filly LADY PEGASUS, four year old Storm Cat colt CHUBASCO CAT. Aiken trained maiden special weight winners include three year old Storm Cat filly CHILUKKI CAT , three year old Kingmambo filly REGAL CHIME,three year old Lemon Drop Kid filly PORTERA,four year old A.P. Indy coly ZAP,and the two year old first time starter HOLY MISSION by Open Forum . In addition to Bob and John , three year old Valid Expectations colt LISSA’S STAR was also a stakes winner capturing The Citgo Stakes at Sam Houston Park on April 1st.