Weyburn heading to Belmont Stakes via Peter Pan

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Weyburn, the Grade 3 Gotham winner and fourth-place finisher in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial, is being pointed to the Grade 3, $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park on May 8 as a stepping-stone to the Belmont Stakes on June 5, his connections said Monday.

Weyburn has enough qualifying points to make the Kentucky Derby field, but trainer Jimmy Jerkens and Robert Landry, the racing manager for Robert and Mark Krembil’s Chiefswood Racing, don’t believe that’s the right race for this horse.

“The right thing for the horse is to miss the Derby,” Landry said. “I think Jimmy and I are on the same page with that. I think this horse is going to mature a lot more. The family history is they get better with age.”

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Weyburn is a son of Pioneerof the Nile and is a half-brother to Yorkton, a sprint stakes winner at ages 3, 4 and 5. Weyburn won his maiden sprinting on Dec. 5 at Aqueduct, but an illness and a foot abscess delayed his 3-year-old debut until the Gotham on March 5, when he beat Crowded Trade by a nose. In the Wood, Weyburn made the lead turning for home, but could not finish off the race, finishing three lengths behind 72-1 upset winner Bourbonic.

“Even when you put him into the drive, he’s still a little sloppy with his leads early into the drive,” Landry said.

Landry said the Peter Pan-Belmont route “has worked for quite a few horses.”

“I think people respect the Belmont a lot, especially for potentially going to the breeding shed,” he said.