It was star power versus firepower at the 74th running of the $500,000 Grade II Wood Memorial, at the Aqueduct Race Track Saturday, with the temperamental Coronado's Quest besting superstar trainer Bob Baffert with a sizzling victory on a terrifically fast track.

Though Baffert came to town flush with an astounding one/two finish in the Santa Anita Derby on April 4 ¬ making his Indian Charlie and Real Quiet real contenders for the "Run for the Roses" ¬ the Shug McGaughey-trained son of Forty-Niner would not be denied a comeback from his terrible Florida campaign.

Coronado's Quest, under jockey Robbie Davis, of Hempstead, led the Wood from the starting gate to the wire, scoring a two-and-a-half length victory. Longshot Dice Dancer was second, while Parade Ground was third.

In securing victory, Coronado's Quest covered the mile-and-an-eighth distance in one minute, forty-seven seconds, just a fifth of a second slower than the stakes' all-time record.

"As New York's prep for the Kentucky Derby and the hunt for the Triple Crown, the Wood Memorial is the highlight of the spring meet at Aqueduct," said Terry Meyocks, President of the New York Racing Association.

Though Saturday also saw pivotal races run in Arkansas and in Kentucky, the fabled New York route to the Triple Crown ¬ a route traversed by Secretariat 25 years ago this spring, Seattle Slew, and a host of others- was enough of a lure to serious horsemen and women to attract an overflow field of 12 horses.

"There's no doubt that the current status of the Wood can be largely attributed to Secretariat's campaign for the Triple Crown in 1973," Meyocks said. "Actually, in addition to the Wood, where you might be surprised to learn he finished third, he also won both the Bay Shore and the Gotham stakes at Aqueduct that year, making New York a key part of the Triple Crown legend."

Though some might be tempted to think that NYRA's president was engaging in hyperbole, the long history of the race both prior to Secretariat's reign and afterwards bears out his sentiments.

While Secretariat's Triple Crown bid is the stuff of legend, four other winners of thoroughbred racing's most revered prize made their pre-derby mark at Aqueduct. These were Gallant Fox, who won the Triple Crown in 1930 and is the only horse to ever sire another Triple Crown winner; Count Fleet, who won it in 1943; Assault, who did it in 1946; and Seattle Slew, who followed Secretariat into the history books in 1977.

More recently, Go For Gin came in second in the Wood before winning the Kentucky Derby in 1994, while Captain Bodgit asserted himself as a top contender at the Kentucky Derby with a win in the Wood Memorial last year, which he followed with his own second-place finish in the Kentucky Derby to a horse of destiny called Silver Charm.

As the thoroughbreds assembled in the paddock for this past Saturday's Wood Memorial, Coronado's Quest, though winless this year, was the focus of the attention not only of the race fans in attendance, but also of the usually jaded press people who were on hand.

Coming into the race, the rambunctious chestnut-colored colt had won five of his six starts as a two-year-old, including three consecutive graded triumphs over Aqueduct's main track.

Unfortunately for trainer McGaughey and the horse's owner, Stuart Janney III, at three-years-old, prime time in the race game, Coronado's Quest became better known for his pre-race episodes ¬ episodes that included bucking, throwing his rider, and freezing to the point of unmanagability ¬ than for what he accomplished on the track.

Despite his unruly behavior during a three-race campaign in Florida this winter, Coronado's Quest managed second place finishes in both the Hutcheson and the Fountain of Youth and appeared to be well on his way to competing in the May 2 Kentucky Derby.

A severe tantrum prior to the Florida Derby, however, resulted in a fifth place finish and McGaughey returned to New York hoping that the track that had been so good to his charge so far would prove a cure for whatever was ailing him.

In addition to the change in scenery, minor surgery to remove a membrane that was interfering with the colt's breathing appeared to have resulted in a better behaved competitor, and in the days just prior to the Wood, Coronado's Quest passed schooling sessions in the paddock with straight A's.

"Florida's over with," McGaughey said on the Thursday prior to the race. "It definitely was a bad campaign...because you get disappointed when you put in as much work as we did and he still behaves the way he did. We're hoping to turn over a new leaf now."

McGaughey, who won the Wood Memorial in 1989 with Easy Goer, was so bolstered by the colt's first few days in New York that he even went to far as to declare that Coronado's Quest, "[was] a different horse since he came back to New York from Florida."

"If we run our race," the trainer predicted, "we'll be hard to beat."

But despite the big effort in the Wood, and the obvious improvement in the colt's race day demeanor, McGaughey is still hesitant to send the colt to Louisville, where he would have to deal with a crowd of 140,000 rather than the 15,293 he encountered this past weekend at Aqueduct.

"The Derby is out of the question," owner Janney said, agreeing with his trainer. "It wouldn't be fair to him"

Both men, however, indicated that there is a chance that Coronado's Quest could still be entered in the Preakness Stakes, to be held at the Pimlico Race Course outside Baltimore, Maryland, on May 16 and the Belmont Stakes, which will take place at Belmont Park on June 6.

In related news, Trainer D. Wayne Lukas, of Garden City, announced on Sunday that Muttowntown's Jerry Bailey will ride Cape Town in the Kentucky Derby; this after Lil's Lad, Bailey's previous mount and until this week a Derby favorite, went down to injury.

While most race fans' attention is on now focused on the build-up to the Run for the Roses on May 2, NYRA's Meyocks is already busily preparing for the spring opening of Belmont Park on May 13.

"As it has been each year in the past, the approach of the Belmont's opening is a time for making improvements," he explained. "Our goal is always to try and enhance the park, making it one of the finest facilities that you can visit in this area at the lowest possible price."

In an effort to appeal to more families, Meyocks said NYRA has made additional improvements to the "backyard" section of the track this winter.

"You know, you don't have to unveil ambitious, ground-breaking changes in order to make a significant difference in the quality of a facility like Belmont," he continued. "It can be a simple thing, like replacing the gravel path and putting in asphalt.

"Now, that may not sound like a big deal, but you know, something like that makes the park more stroller-friendly and therefore more enticing to the families we hope will come here for an enjoyable spring and summer afternoon."