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.
“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.
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.
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