Add Antiquarian to the Belmont Stakes (G1) mix.
Antiquarian came through with a well-timed stretch run under jockey John Velazquez for a three-quarter length victory over The Wine Steward in the $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct on Saturday.
Antiquarian
Will Antiquarian be the second Peter Pan winner to take the Belmont following Arcangelo’s win last year?
“Absolutely,” trainer Todd Pletcher said when asked if the Belmont is next up for his chestnut colt who rebounded from a rugged sixth-place finish in the Louisiana Derby (G2) and did not qualify for the Kentucky Derby.
“We had a horrible trip [in the Louisiana Derby] – he hit the gate really bad and dragged me for a sixteenth of a mile, then we broke slow and got squeezed a little bit,” Velazquez said. “We went wide at the three-eighths pole – that was a rough trip for him. Today, everything was clean.”
Racing comfortably in third behind Unique Insight and favorite The Wine Steward, Antiquarian raced four-wide through the far turn of the 1 1/8-mile race, caught the leaders with a furlong to go, took charge in the final sixteenth.
A son of Preservationist, Antiquarian returned $13.80 on a $2 win bet and added a first graded stakes win to a maiden win for a 4-2-1-0 record.
Peter Pan Stakes: Deterministic’s Struggle and the Road to Belmont
Deterministic, the Gotham (G3) winner who ran a disappointing eighth in the Wood Memorial (G2) last month, bumped Antiquarian at the start, and was never in contention, finishing fifth in the six-horse field.
The Peter Pan is the traditional prep for the $2 million Belmont, which will be run for the first time at Saratoga Race Course on June 8 as the rebuilding of Belmont Park continues. The distance will be 1 ¼ miles rather than the usual 1 ½ miles.
Winning time was 1:48.99.
Protective was third, followed by Unique Insight, Deterministic, and Native Land.
“I was expecting a big effort from him. He was a little spotty, but I know he can keep going that pace the whole way around,” Velazquez said. “He won very nicely.
Pletcher also trains Fierceness, the Derby favorite who finished 15th as the 3-1 favorite.