Horse Racing
First Look: Peter Pan highlights week of N.Y. graded stakes
The traditional prep for what will be a non-traditional
Belmont Stakes headlines this ’tweener racing week bridging the Kentucky Derby
and Preakness.
The Grade 3, $200,000 Peter Pan, which vaulted its winner
Arcangelo to success in last year’s Belmont, could have 12 starters, including Deterministic
and Uncle Heavy, both Grade 3 winners on New York’s winter road to the Derby.
Stakes Tracker: See who will be in leading races.
Run as usual at 1 1/8 miles, the Peter Pan was moved to Aqueduct
because of the rebuilding of the Belmont Park grandstand. It will feed the
Belmont Stakes, which will be run at least the next two years at Saratoga and
cut from 1 1/2 to 1 1/4 miles.
All four of this weekend’s graded stakes are part of the
Belmont at the Big A spring-summer meet.
Saturday
Peter Pan (G3), Belmont at Aqueduct, 1 1/8 miles, 3-year-olds
Deterministic, who won the Gotham (G3) in March, tugged his
way to an eighth-place fizzle as the 9-10 favorite April 6 in the Wood Memorial
(G2). Uncle Heavy finished fifth in the Wood after prevailing two months
earlier in the Withers (G3). The Withers and Wood were run over the same course
and distance as the Peter Pan, which had a dozen probable entrants listed this
weekend by the racing office at Aqueduct. Breeders’ Futurity (G1) runner-up The
Wine Steward, who came back from a six-month break to finish second in last
month’s Lexington (G3), and maiden winner Tuscan Gold, who was a close third to
Catching Freedom in the Louisiana Derby (G2), will merit wagering attention. Brown
said Tuscan Gold could be held out for the Preakness, but he also was expected
to enter Malarchuk, a Nyquist colt who broke his maiden on third asking with a
nine-length victory going a mile April 11 at Aqueduct. That performance earned
him an 87 Beyer Speed Figure, according to Daily Racing Form.
| Silks | Horse / Sire | Rating | Trainer / Jockey | Last Start / Next Start | HRN | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Deterministic Liam’s Map |
6.52 | Probable | ||||
|
Last Race |
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Uncle Heavy Social Inclusion |
6.19 | Probable | |||
|
Last Race |
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|
Conquest Warrior City of Light |
6.13 | Probable | |||
|
Last Race |
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|
|
The Wine Steward Vino Rosso |
6.08 | Probable | |||
|
Last Race |
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|
|
Antiquarian Preservationist |
5.91 | Probable | |||
|
Last Race |
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|
|
Unique Insight Gun Runner |
4.79 | Probable | |||
|
Last Race |
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|
|
D Day Sky Omaha Beach |
0.00 | Probable | |||
|
Last Race |
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|
|
Lonesome Boy Nationhood |
0.00 | Probable | |||
|
Last Race |
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|
|
Malarchuk Nyquist |
0.00 | Probable | |||
|
Last Race |
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|
|
Native Land Mastery |
0.00 |
1st, KEE AOC (04/10/2024-R7) |
Probable | ||
|
Last Race |
1st, KEE AOC (04/10/2024-R7) |
|||||
|
|
Protective Medaglia d’Oro |
0.00 | Probable | |||
|
Last Race |
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|
|
Tuscan Gold Medicean |
0.00 | Probable | |||
|
Last Race |
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Man o’ War (G2), Belmont at Aqueduct, 1 3/8 miles, turf,
4-year-olds and up
Eleven-time winner and three-time Breeders’ Cup starter War
Like Goddess has earned more than $2.5 million racing for owner George
Krikorian via Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey. She makes her 7-year-old
debut trying to do what she did the last two autumns in the Joe Hirsch Turf
Classic (G1). That would be to beat the boys. Charlie Appleby, who will have a
string of Godolphin horses at Saratoga this summer, may bring double-barreled
action to this $400,000 race on Aqueduct’s inner turf course. Nations Pride, a
5-year-old entire, has won Grade 1 and Group 1 races in Canada and Germany as
well as in the 2022 Saratoga Derby Invitational. Bold Act, a 4-year-old
gelding, came back from winning the Dubai City of Gold (G2) to finish third in
the Elkhorn (G2) at Keeneland.
| Silks | Horse / Sire | Rating | Trainer / Jockey | Last Start / Next Start | HRN | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
War Like Goddess English Channel |
8.02 | Probable | |||
|
Last Race |
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|
Nations Pride Teofilo |
7.28 | Probable | |||
|
Last Race |
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|
Tawny Port Pioneerof the Nile |
6.54 | Probable | |||
|
Last Race |
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Webslinger Constitution |
6.42 | Probable | |||
|
Last Race |
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|
Kertez Intello |
6.07 | Probable | |||
|
Last Race |
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|
|
Ohana Honor Honor Code |
5.92 |
1st, KEE ALW (04/14/2024-R9) |
Probable | ||
|
Last Race |
1st, KEE ALW (04/14/2024-R9) |
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|
Bold Act New Approach |
5.09 | Probable | |||
|
Last Race |
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Dynadrive Temple City |
5.09 | Probable | |||
|
Last Race |
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|
Harry Hood First Samurai |
0.00 | Probable | |||
|
Last Race |
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Runhappy (G2), Belmont at Aqueduct, six furlongs, 4-year-olds
and up
So far only four sprinters were identified as probable for
this race that began as the Diablo before Jim McIngvale, also known as Mattress
Mack, bought the naming rights four years ago. Straight No Chaser, a 5-year-old
entire, has not raced since his 7 1/2-length victory 11 1/2 months ago in the Maryland
Sprint (G3). Joey Freshwater, who enjoyed his only graded-stakes success last spring
in the Bayshore (G3), would make his 10th start in the past year.
Sunday
Soaring Softly (G3), Belmont at Aqueduct, six furlongs,
turf, 3-year-old fillies
Amidst Waves, who finished 10th of 12 in the 2023 Breeders’
Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, makes her 2024 debut and tries to return to the form
she displayed when she won her first three turf starts and lost by just a nose
in her fourth. The Midshipman filly had stakes victories last year at Monmouth
Park and Saratoga for trainer George Weaver. Among her four would-be rivals is
Pipsy, a daughter of Kodiac who won 2 of 3 as a 2-year-old racing in her native
Ireland for trainer Ger Lyons. After breaking her maiden on the Curragh turf
and getting a stakes win on the Dundalk synthetic, she returns to the grass in her
U.S. debut for trainer Will Walden.
| Silks | Horse / Sire | Rating | Trainer / Jockey | Last Start / Next Start | HRN | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Independenceavenue Mr Speaker |
4.45 | Probable | |||
|
Last Race |
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|
|
Amidst Waves Midshipman |
0.00 | Probable | |||
|
Last Race |
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|
|
Artemis Sound Audible |
0.00 |
4th, GP AOC (04/13/2024-R8) |
Probable | ||
|
Last Race |
4th, GP AOC (04/13/2024-R8) |
|||||
|
|
Kodiac Wintergreen Kodiac |
0.00 | Probable | |||
|
Last Race |
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|
|
Pipsy Kodiac |
0.00 | Probable | |||
|
Last Race |
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