Top trainers looking for more out of their Peter Pan runners
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OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The Peter Pan Stakes is traditionally a race horsemen run in with hopes of getting to the Belmont Stakes.
Rick Dutrow, trainer of probable Peter Pan favorite Captain Cook, is not looking that far ahead. After a fourth-place finish in the Wood Memorial dashed his hopes of getting to the Kentucky Derby, Dutrow was just looking for the next viable spot for Captain Cook, who did win the listed Withers Stakes here in February. Dutrow thought about cutting back in distance, but opted for this 1 1/8-mile race instead.
“We just landed in this spot,” Dutrow said. “I just want to see him run in this race. We don’t have a timetable set for him, just this race. We’ll see how he runs and see what we want to do next time.”
Dutrow offered no excuses for Captain Cook’s loss in the Wood Memorial. He was sitting perched right off of Rodriguez, but when the running started, Rodriguez continued on to win by 3 1/2 lengths, while Captain Cook was passed by Grande and Passion Rules and ended up beaten 6 3/4 lengths.
“I thought we had great position the whole way,” Dutrow said. “I didn’t see the jock nudging him going into the first turn to stay after that other horse. I saw our horse comfortable with where he was at. We were hoping the other one would stop, but he kicked into another gear.”
Manny Franco will ride Captain Cook from post 8.
Dutrow also sends out McAfee, a half-brother to 2024 Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna. McAfee ran fifth in the Wood Memorial and fifth in the Gotham. Dutrow is adding blinkers to McAfee’s equipment Saturday.
“I’m not looking for him to run through the screen just because we put blinkers on him,” Dutrow said. “I thought he ran as good as he could in every race we’ve run him in so far.”
Hill Road, third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, ran third in the Tampa Bay Derby in his first start for trainer Chad Brown. Hill Road was targeting the Wood Memorial, but missed the race due to a fever. Brown felt the horse was ready for a big race in the Wood, but now he is dealing with a two-month layoff.
“We’re going to have to see how he responds to that,” Brown said. “I still like the horse. I feel he has his whole 3-year-old season still ahead of him with a lot of potential races if he keeps developing.”
Hill Road comes from off the pace, and there doesn’t appear to be much speed in this edition of the Peter Pan.
“Unfortunately, there’s not much speed on paper, that’s disappointing from a handicapping standpoint,” Brown said. “I’m hopeful it’ll at least be a honest pace. We’ll have to see how it plays out.”
Flavien Prat rides Hill Road from post 4.
Brown also entered Lordship in the Peter Pan, but is likely to run him Saturday in the Long Branch Stakes at Monmouth Park.
Todd Pletcher won his fifth Peter Pan last year with Antiquarian. Saturday, he sends out Vassimo and Uncaged. Vassimo, a son of Nyquist, crossed the finish line first in his first two starts – he was disqualified from a December maiden win due to a medication violation – before finishing fourth in the Grade 2 Risen Star and fourth in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby.
Pletcher would like to see Vassimo a little more involved early on.
“Just hoping for some improvement here,” he said. “He always trained a little better than those last couple of races.”
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Irad Ortiz Jr. rides from the rail.
Uncaged won a one-mile allowance race with blinkers added last out, his first time at one mile.
“He improved a little bit on the stretch-out last time,” Pletcher said. “I need both of them to make moves forward.”
Surfside Moon, second to Captain Cook in the Withers and third in the Federico Tesio; Happily Delusional, fourth in the Tesio; First Pitch, a maiden winner; and Brereton’s Baytown, fifth in the Arkansas Derby, complete the field.
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