From NYRA Publicity
OZONE PARK, N.Y. (Mar. 8, 2026) — Paradise Equine Farm and Bradley and Sharon Kleven’s Express Kid may look to punch his ticket to the Kentucky Derby (G1) in the $750,000 Wood Memorial (G2) at Aqueduct RacetrackApril 4.
“That’s one of our best options. We’ve been targeting that,” trainer Justin Evans said. “I need to speak to the owners as they’ve also been talking about the Louisiana Derby, but I’d really like to bring him over there—that’s a race I’ve always respected and as a kid growing up in the game, the Wood Memorial is huge. I think the race might fit us really well.”
The 1 1/8-mile Wood Memorial offers 100-50-25-10-15 qualifying points to the top five finishers for the Kentucky Derby.
Express Kid, bred by Richard Barton Enterprises, made his first five career starts for owner Steve Haahr and trainer Wade Rarick, winning three times topped by a frontrunning score in the Springboard Mile Dec. 20 around two turns at Remington Park where he bested multiple stakes-winning New York-bred Arctic Beast by 6 1/4-lengths.
The Bodexpress colt was purchased for $800,000 from the Fasig-Tipton Digital Sale by Brad Kleven and transferred to Evans. The California-bred Express Kid, a $12,000 RNA at the Fasig-Tipton California Fall Yearling Sale, was bought for $2,000 at the Arizona Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association Fall Mixed Sale.
“He’s a great-looking horse. He’s very athletic looking,” Evans said. “The connections that had him before did a fantastic job with him race-wise and the horse came to me in great flesh and looked amazing. He’s a push-button horse and everything you go to do with him, he does really well and seems like he wants more.”
Express Kid went to post as the even-money favorite in the Sunland Park Derby Feb. 15 and was defeated just a nose by fellow Cal-bred Pavlovian after setting the pace.
Evans said he was pleased by the performance from Express Kid, who missed training leading into the race.
“That was a heartbreaker the other day in the Sunland Derby,” Evans said. “We were a little up against it as we had weather we never get out here—a snowstorm which you very rarely get in El Paso, but it hammered us and we were on the shelf and missed training for eight or nine days. That really hurt us and caused us to miss a work plus the day-to-day training we missed. To go through that and lose the Sunland Derby by a nose was heartbreaking.”
Express Kid earned 10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points in the Sunland Derby, matching the points he earned for winning the Springboard Mile. He currently sits 18th on the leaderboard with 20 points.
Express Kid worked back five-eighths in 1:00.34 at Sunland Park Feb. 28.
“The horse bounced out of it really good and had a good work the other day,” Evans said. “I plan on breezing him back on Tuesday and then talk to the owners to pin down our gameplan, but the Wood is one of our first choices.”
Express Kid has worn blinkers in each of his six outings, but Evans noted that Express Kid worked without blinkers in his most recent breeze.
“We’ve talked about maybe taking the blinkers off,” Evans said. “It’s something we’re looking at now that he’s grown and matured a little bit. It might be time to take them off and see if it will open him up a little bit.”