Woodford Racing's Timeline (Hard Spun)'s debut win over seven furlongs at Gulfstream Park Mar. 4 was decidedly professional and the chestnut took a major step forward next out, romping home a 13 1/2-length winner in an optional claimer in the slop at Aqueduct Apr. 6–a performance that earned him 'TDN Rising Star' honors. From the coveted family of 1983 BrPETER PAN S.-GIII, 3yo, 1 1/8m
oodmare of the Year Courtly Dee, the progressive 3-year-old takes his game to the next level in Saturday's GIII Peter Pan S., traditionally a stepping stone towards the June 10 GI Belmont S. With significant rainfall in the forecast Saturday, a replication of Timeline's performance just over a month ago would make him very hard to beat as the 7-5 morning line favorite.
“I think he's a horse that wouldn't have a problem stretching out to two-turns but I do like the progression from one mile to a mile and an eighth,” trainer Chad Brown told the NYRA notes team. “We'll take each step forward at a time and stay around one turn one more time and see how he handles it before we tackle two turn races.”
Brown also sends out John D. Gunther's Take Your Guns (Blame), a half-brother to MGSW Last Gunfighter (First Samurai) and a recent winner of a nine-panel maiden heat at Keeneland Apr. 15.
“There's a chance he could be a Belmont S.-type horse going a mile and a half and I think he'll run all day, so that's really my thought process with entering him here,” Brown said of Take Your Guns.
Silverton Hill's Meantime (Shackleford) also captured a nine-furlong maiden event at Keeneland Apr. 22 for trainer Brian Lynch and ships to New York for this first try against winners, while Impressive Edge (Harlan's Holiday) enters off a fourth-place finish behind subsequent GI Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming (Bodemeister) in the Apr. 1 GI Florida Derby. With both of his wins coming in sprints, the latter figures to be better suited to the one-turn configuration of the Peter Pan trip.
Todd Pletcher took down the grand prize in last weekend's Run for the Roses with Always Dreaming, and looks to add another 3-year-old stakes success with scratched Derby also eligible Master Plan (Twirling Candy). Owner by the partnership of WinStar Farm, Al Shaqab Racing and China Horse Club et al, the bay was last seen reporting home a good third in the mud in the Mar. 25 G2 UAE Derby. He completed his preparations for this engagement with a bullet four-furlong drill in :48.20 at Churchill Downs Sunday.
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