He had come back to run in Aqueduct’s 83rd running of the Grade 1, $750,000 Wood Memorial with a reputation as a horse with an abundance of talent and a lot of growing up to do.

Saturday afternoon, before 7,848 fans, Elizabeth J. Valando’s Nobiz Like Shobiz became a `man.’

From the moment he stepped onto Aqueduct’s main track, where he won the Remsen as a two-year-old last Novmevber, he looked every bit a winner. He sported a new look – cotton in his ears to keep out the crowd noise and blinkers around his eyes to keep his mind on his business.

Then, he got down to business, scoring a half-length victory over longshot Sightseeing and punching his ticket to the 133rd Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on Saturday, May 5.

“I always wanted to win the Wood Memorial; I love the big races in New York,” said his trainer, Barclay Tagg, as his horse returned $3.40 as the post-time favorite. “He didn’t gallop away by ten, but he had a pretty well-bred horse chasing him. He’ll be fine now. There were some immaturity things happening to him, but he’ll get better each time. The cotton in his ears settles him a little bit.”

And the blinkers made him sharp.

Breaking from the rail under jockey Cornelio Velasquez in this nine-furlong feature of Aqueduct’s spring meet, Nobiz Like Shobiz shot to the lead to float Flashstorm, Summer Doldrums and Any Given Saturday out wider on the first turn, then was taken back from the duel as the quarter went in :23.38 and the half in :47.76.

Velasquez turned his mount loose on the far turn, and as Flashstorm backed out, Any Given Saturday came up to challenge Nobiz Like Shobiz.

This was not an idle threat. Any Given Saturday had battled tooth and nail with 2006 juvenile champion Street Sense in the Tampa Bay Derby on March 17 before losing by a nose. In that race, Street Sense set the track record for a mile and a sixteenth in 1:43.11.

This was a different race, however, and the wide trip took its toll on Any Given Saturday, who backed up in the lane to finish third.

“I was disappointed in the last sixteenth of a mile,” said trainer Todd Pletcher, who scratched Gotham Stakes winner Cowtown Cat from the Wood Memorial in favor of Saturday’s Illinois Derby. Cowtown Cat won that race and a trip to Kentucky.

“Any Given Saturday didn’t really polish it off,” Pletcher continued. “He obviously took the worst of it being wide on the first turn and being three-wide all the way around on the second turn. No real excuse, other than just running the longest. I thought `Nobiz’ ran a very good race. He had to rush into the first turn a little bit and get position on the inside. We got to him and we had a chance to beat him. Maybe the three weeks off got to him, but I still believe (Any Given Saturday) is a good horse. He should have got enough earnings to secure a position in the Kentucky Derby. We got the four weeks off between races we wanted, and the earnings, but we will have to step up a notch to get it done.”

Nobiz Like Showbiz stepped it up, but so did 18-1 Sightseeing.

Trained by Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey, Sightseeing was initially going to skip the Wood Memorial, but when Pletcher decided to pass on running Louisiana Derby winner Circular Quay here and with Cowtown Cat in Illinois, McGaughey figured he caught a break.

Sightseeing, a Pulpit colt, almost made him look like a genius, as he rallied wide. Nobiz Like Shobiz, however, would not be denied and won in 1:49.46.

“I thought we would probably run good,” McGaughey said. “I still think this horse has a way’s to go. He’s got some things to learn. I’ll talk to the Phipps and figure things out, but if you ask me about the Kentucky Derby now, I would be inclined to say, `No.’ Hopefully, we can have a good horse for later on this summer. At the quarter-pole, it looked like he was a winner. He drifted out a little bit. I’m tickled to death with the effort. I’ve always been a Nobiz Like Shobiz fan. My hat’s off to him. He ran a great race.”

It looks like McGaughey is not the only Nobiz Like Shobiz fan, and that is a fan base that figures to grow. Nobiz Like Shobiz, a bay son of Albert the Great, looks the part and he is in the capable hands of Tagg, who guided 2003 Wood Memorial runner-up Funny Cide to victories in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness that year.

“I think he was more focused today,” Tagg said. “I think the rail helped him a little bit. We had five weeks to work with him. All of his works were good. He did everything properly. Today, he showed up. Cornelio Velasquez) throttled him back a little bit. I’m glad that he did; I didn’t want him to get into a duel. I thought Cornelio handled everything really well, and the horse handled everything really well.”

Tagg will keep Nobiz Like Shobiz at Belmont Park to prepare for the Kentucky Derby.

“I like to go late to the Derby,” he said. “I don’t like to go down and mess around with that crowd. It’s hard on the horses to be chased around all day, every day. We have an extra week to the Derby this year; with Funny Cide, we only had three weeks.”

Although he enjoyed a big day, Tagg kept his reserve.

“I never get overly confident about anything,” Tagg said. “So many things can happen in a race. I had a pretty good feeling about him today. I thought he would do what he did and I would have been really disappointed if he didn’t.”

Summer Doldrums took himself off the Derby trail finishing nearly five lengths behind Any Given Saturday. Reptilian Smarts and Flashstorm trailed.