Tale of Ekati, named for owner Charles E. Fipke’s Canadian diamond mine, got a sparkling set-up on Saturday afternoon at Aqueduct, and used it to score a half-length victory over 2007 juvenile champion War Pass in the 84th running of the Grade 1, $750,000 Wood Memorial for three-year-olds at nine furlongs.

Both horses will be heading to Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby on May 3, having found redemption at the Big A.

Tale of Ekati, fourth to War Pass in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Monmouth Park last fall, ran a poor sixth to Pyro in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby on March 8. Trainer Barclay Tagg, however, never faulted the horse and never lost faith.

“We always though he was a good horse,” said Tagg, who also won the Wood Memorial last year with Nobiz Like Shobiz. “Last time, we took him to the Louisiana Derby. He got a little tangled up in the gate there and ran a disappointing race. We still felt good about him, and we worked out some of those issues in the gate. He showed up today big time.”

He also showed up at the right time in the Wood Memorial.

Inner Light, a “rabbit” for Grade 2 Remsen winner Court Vision, hooked War Pass from the start, getting the first quarter of a mile in 22.46 on a drying-out track that went from muddy to good to fast during the course of the afternoon. The hot pace continued through a half of .46:07 and subsequent splits of 1:11.50 and 1:38.42.

To Tagg’s mild surprise, jockey Edgar Prado opted to keep Tale of Ekati up close to the suicidal pace.

“I thought War Pass was the horse to beat,” Tagg said. “It was nice to see Inner Light go after War Pass. We were laying a little closer than I wanted him to be, but Edgar has an intuitiveness that has served him pretty well for the last 30 years.”

Prado would back up Tagg’s assessment by winning the last three races on the day’s card: the Wood Memorial, the Grade 1 Carter Handicp with Bustin Stones and the 11th race aboard Motor Patrol.

“It’s been a super day!,” Prado said at the end of the day, his first in New York this year after wintering in Florida. “It’s a good way to let everyone know that I am back in New York.”

Prado let everyone know of his presence in the Wood Memorial. Having established his position, Tale of Ekati took to the inside as the field turned for home. War Pass put away Inner Light, but began to wander out through the stretch. That opened the rail for Tale of Ekati, who came late to pick up the pieces and the victory in 1:52.35.

“He didn’t break that well (in Louisiana),” Prado said. “Today, he broke sharp and he made my job easier. I had a beautiful trip and I knew War Pass was going very fast. I was very proud of him. He kept on trying all the way.”

A son of Tale of the Cat, Tale of Ekati returned $19 for his third win in six starts.

“I have a group of horses in Lexington (Kentucky) and he’ll ship down there tomorrow morning,” Tagg said. “Big Brown and War Pass are both in the Derby; that might work out well for us.”

As for Fipke, the geologist/prospector known as “Stumpy” to his employees, Tale of Ekati has turned out to be another gem.

“I’m still in a daze,” Fipke said. “This is wonderful; of course, he had to beat a great horse, War Pass. This is our prep race for the Derby -- that’s where we’re going next if this didn’t take too much out of him. Winning this race is like finding that first diamond, that kind of excitement.”

As sparkling a race as Tale of Ekati ran, the on-track crowd of 7,698 and NBC’s national television audience appreciated the gutsy effort of War Pass, who finished a length and a quarter ahead of third-place finisher Court Vision.

Not only was War Pass coming off the worst race of his career and his first loss, but many were certain that the son of 1994 sprint champion Cherokee Run would be unable to handle the distance. Cherokee Run, however, is a son of Runaway Groom, winner of the 1982 Travers at Saratoga Race Course.

And War Pass remembered that he is a champion.

“It’s sad that we didn’t win because he is a champion,” said War Pass’ Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito. “It would have been wonderful to win the Wood Memorial. I’m still glad with the way he ran; he wasn’t up the track. There were no excuses. I told (jockey Cornelio Velasquez) to drift off the fence because the rail was dead all day. It was a tiring track. I wanted him to change leads so it would be easier for him. We’ll take him to Kentucky. We’ll take it one day at a time. We still have to salute the winner -- he ran a big race. If War Pass has a good month, we’ll see if we can make it to the Derby.”

New York-bred Giant Moon was a neck back in fourth, followed by Anak Nakal, Spurrier, Roman Emperor, Texas Wildcat and Inner Light.

First Commandment was a late scratch.

“He looks okay and the vet doesn’t think it is anything serious,” said First Commandment’s trainer, Carlos Martin. “It’s seems to be something below, but his legs are ice cold. The vet said he just wasn’t warming up right and it looked like every time he took a step, something was stinging him. We’ll go over him carefully and see if we can find anything.”