A week after winning the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) with American Pharoah , trainer Bob Baffert plans to send out another talented 3-year-old in Wolf Man Rocket in the $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes (gr. II) May 9 at Belmont Park.
Frank Fletcher Racing Operations' Wolf Man Rocket will enter Saturday's Peter Pan at Belmont off a clear victory in the Northern Spur Stakes April 11 at Oaklawn Park, where the son of Mineshaft closed from fifth. American Pharoah would win later on that April 11 Oaklawn card, taking the Arksansas Derby (gr. I) in his final Kentucky Derby prep.
Wolf Man Rocket entered the one-mile Northern Spur off a pair of runner-up finishes in maiden special weight sprints, at six furlongs then seven furlongs. Victor Espinoza had been aboard for Wolf Man Rocket's first three starts, but Irad Ortiz Jr. will ride Saturday. Baffert will be looking for his first win in the Peter Pan.
Two-time Peter Pan winner Todd Pletcher has entered a pair of starters in Cheyenne Stable's and Mac Nichol's Madefromlucky and Starlight Racing's Two Weeks Off. Madefromlucky received some consideration for the Kentucky Derby before the connections ultimately decided on the Peter Pan. The Lookin At Lucky colt enters off a fourth-place finish in the Arkansas Derby, where he finished nine lengths behind American Pharoah.
Two Weeks Off scored a maiden special weight win in his second career start last year at Saratoga Race Course and scored an easy win in his 2015 debut, an April 4 allowance race at Keeneland contested at about seven furlongs.
The other two starters in the expected field of five both earned graded-stakes placings this year. Conquest Curlinate enters off a close runner-up finish in the Illinois Derby (gr. III) April 18 at Hawthorne Race Course. Two starts ago, Tiz Shea D finished second to El Kabeir in the Gotham Stakes (gr. III) at Aqueduct Racetrack.
Belmont Park, Saturday, May 09, 2015, Race 3Entries: Peter Pan S. (G2)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Wolf Man Rocket (KY) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 120 Bob Baffert - 2 2Madefromlucky (KY) Javier Castellano 116 Todd A. Pletcher - 3 3Conquest Curlinate (ON) Shaun Bridgmohan 116 Mark E. Casse - 4 4Two Weeks Off (KY) John R. Velazquez 116 Todd A. Pletcher - 5 5Tiz Shea D (KY) Jose Lezcano 116 William I. Mott -
