Peter Pan Stakes Preview: Critical Belmont Stakes Prep

Likely Winners

#7 Unified – This horse could be the next big thing!  Two races into his career he has already turned a lot of heads as he easily defeated a group of maidens at Gulfstream Park, and then crushed his competition at Aqueduct in the Grade 3 Bay Shore Stakes.  In both starts he went to the front and didn’t look back while not really be urged for his best race.  His beyer speed figures of 99 and 102 are impressive as well and rank right up there with any horse in this crop.  The one mystery will be going two turns as his races so far have been 6 and 7 furlongs.  If the mile and one eighth doesn’t cause him problems there’s really no reason to believe he won’t get it done on Saturday.  That one minor question mark makes him hard to single, but I believe you can bet him with a lot of confidence.

#6 Wild About Deb – You have to respect every horse coming out of California right now, especially those that ship to New York!  California invaders Laoban and Trojan Nation came within noses of winning New York’s two biggest Kentucky Derby prep races…and BOTH of those horses were MAIDENS!  That is extremely eye opening, and Wild About Deb comes into this race off a very impressive maiden romp at Santa Anita last time out.  Perhaps he isn’t the real deal, but at this point do you really want to make that assumption?  I believe Unified could be something special, but I would advise you to use this horse as a back up plan.

Exotic Plays

#4 Decorated Solider – Last time out at Oaklawn Park he faced an above average field in the Northern Spur, and raced quite well in that contest to pick up a win while running wide for most of the race.  There is no question today’s race is a jump up in class, but coming off the race at Oaklawn I’d say it’s worth a shot.  He will most likely work out a better trip in this one, and if he can handle the mile and one eighth distance it’s not out of the question that he can hang with most of these.

#3 Adventist – He’s had solid third place finishes in both the Gotham Stakes and Wood Memorial, but the problem is those races have turned out to be really bad.  Gotham winner Shagaf finished 20th in the Kentucky Derby, while Wood Winner Outwork finished 14th and Wood second place finisher Trojan Nation finished 16th.  So consider me very unimpressed with this horses resume, however I do believe he can achieve the same sort of finish in this race.  Would play heavy underneath.

Party Crashers

#5 Governor Malibu – This would be a large upset in my mind, but I do not think he’s completely impossible in this race.  Had competed in all state bred races before shipping to Laurel Park last time out when he finished first in the Tesio Stakes, but was disqualified and placed second.  The problem with that race is it looks to be weak on paper, however he does have a pattern of getting better with each start.  He’ll need to improve once again today to make an impact, but with these connections its possible.  Wouldn’t completely toss.

Throw Outs

#8 Lost Iron – He’s trained by Bill Mott which is one of the only positives for him coming into this race.  He’s been beaten by some average horses, but it’s unclear how good of a field he beat last time out.  I’ll pass on him for now.

#1 Supah Czech – Won a maiden last time out at Laurel Park in a race that came back to get a very slow speed number.  Looks to be over matched by almost everyone in this race.

#2 Singleton – Even though he has ran behind some decent horses it’s very tough to support a maiden in this race as the cast is fairly strong.  Easy toss.