Weyburn Breezes In Final Pennsylvania Derby Prep

ELMONT, NY – Chiefswood Stables’ Weyburn, winner of the 1-mile Gotham (G3) in March at Aqueduct Racetrack, breezed 7 furlongs in 1:31.73 last Friday on the Belmont training track in preparation for a start in this Saturday’s 9-furlong Pennsylvania Derby (G1) at Parx.

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Trained by Jimmy Jerkens, Friday’s breeze followed up on a bullet 5/8 in 59.63 last Friday on the training track.

“He did well. We just wanted to give him a little stamina today,” Jerkens said. “He worked really fast last week and we didn’t want to do that again. I was happy with how he did it.”

The Ontario homebred son of Pioneerof the Nile finished fourth in the 9-furlong Wood Memorial (G2) in April at the Big A and followed 2 months later with a close second to Kentucky Derby (G1) runner-up Mandaloun in the 1 1/16-mile Pegasus on June 13 at Monmouth.

Last out, the dark bay colt tracked the pace from third in the 9-furlong Jim Dandy (G2) on July 31 at the Spa but failed to make up ground in the stretch run, finishing fourth.

Jerkens said Weyburn, a resurgent Gotham winner under Trevor McCarthy off a 3-month layoff, is at his best racing fresh.

“He’s got a lot of talent. He’s just a little quirky,” Jerkens said. “His two best races – the Gotham and the Pegasus – he had two to three months between starts.”

Paco Lopez will pilot the quirky colt for the first time and Jerkens said the veteran rider will need to keep Weyburn to task.

“He wants to be forwardly placed and then you have to get after him. He’ll spit the bit after he’s run a long ways and you have to try and beat him to the punch a little bit,” Jerkens said. “Trevor kept riding him the whole time in the Gotham and he came back on. He can be stubborn switching to his outside lead but when he does, he comes back on again.”