3-year-olds prep for the Belmont Stakes in the Peter Pan on Saturday

By NY Hot List staff | Thursday, May 11, 2023

Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Peter Pan is the local prep race for the Belmont Stakes (G1) which will be run on June 10. Nine 3-year-olds were entered to run the 1 1/8 miles going one-turn at Belmont Park.

Todd Pletcher has two horses entered in the Peter Pan as he tries to win this race for the fifth time. Classic Catch, who was fifth in the Wood Memorial (G2) after a slow start and a wide trip, was listed as the 9-2 third choice in the morning line. He gets blinkers on.

“He came out of the Wood in good shape and has been breezing steadily,” said Byron Hughes, Pletcher’s New York assistant. “We’re excited about him and I thought he closed well to run a sneaky good race in the Wood. We’re hoping he puts it all together in the Peter Pan. His coat and weight look good.”

Bishops Bay is undefeated in a two starts at Fair Grounds for Brad Cox and is the 8-5 morning line favorite.

“He came in yesterday and had a gallop over the training track this morning,” said Dustin Dugas, Cox’s Belmont assistant. “You couldn’t ask for a horse to ship in any better. He got over the track well and they say he’s been training very well down in Kentucky. He seems like a very kind horse and is easy to get along with.”

Here are the Hot List picks for the Peter Pan:

The $200,000 Peter Pan (G3), Aqueduct, Saturday, Race 6.

(5) Classic Catch will try and get trainer Todd Pletcher his fifth victory in the Peter Pan which serves as the final local prep for the Belmont Stakes. The blinkers go on after he broke slowly in the Wood Memorial (G2) and was forced to run wide the entire race yet still gained ground and improved his position significantly. (9) Bishops Bay gives Brad Cox yet another talented 3-year-old. This guy did not make his first start until February at Fair Grounds when he won as the odds-on favorite and returned a month later to win an allowance going two-turns at the New Orleans track. With his undefeated status and with Cox as the trainer he will attract plenty of action at the betting windows as he steps up to graded stakes competition. (2) Slip Mahoney is also entered in the Long Branch Stakes at Monmouth Park on Saturday. In his two Kentucky Derby trail races he had troubled trips while running second in the Gotham (G3) and sixth in the Wood. (4) Summer Cause broke his maiden in February at Gulfstream Park followed by a third in the Federico Tesio for Christophe Clement.

The rest of the NY Hot List picks and the Special Saturday Pick 3 are available free of charge at this website.