A group of 3-year-olds light on experience, but with plenty of potential line up in Saturday's GII Peter Pan S., a prep for the June 6 GI Belmont S. Favored at 9-5 on the morning line is Starlight Racing's Two Weeks Off (Harlan's Holiday). Second on debut at the Spa Aug. 9, the $320,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling donned cap and gown going seven panels three weeks thereafter. He went missing for the next seven months, but romped by 6 1/2 lengths with a 104 Beyer Speed Figure in an Apr. 4 allowance contested over Keeneland's Beard Course. “The horse was training exceptionally well [for his comeback],” said Pletcher. “We were anticipating he'd run well, but that was even better than we were hoping for.” Of the added ground, Pletcher said, “I don't anticipate the stretch out will be a problem. He's always trained like he'd stretch out, and being a son of Harlan's Holiday, it would make sense. It's a big step up in class and a quarter-mile further, but we like what we see so far. We hope his [race] would be good enough to consider something like the Belmont.”
Pletcher also saddles Cheyenne Stables and Mac Nichol's Madefromlucky (Lookin At Lucky), who at one point was being considered for the GI Kentucky Derby. Cheyenne purchased a majority interest in the colt from Nichol, and he was transferred from John Mazza to Pletcher before a Gulfstream optional claiming win going this distance Feb. 4. The chestnut was a distant second behind Kentucky Derby hero American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) in Oaklawn's GII Rebel S. Mar. 14, and fourth behind him in the GI Arkansas Derby Apr. 11.
Frank Fletcher Racing Operations Inc.'s Wolf Man Rocket (Mineshaft) owned just a pair of runner-up efforts at Santa Anita when Hall of Famer Bob Baffert opted to send him to Oaklawn along with American Pharoah. The $550,000 OBSAPR juvenile earned his diploma the hard way, overcoming a slow start and wide journey to annex the Northern Spur S. in Hot Springs Apr. 11.
Conquest Stables's Conquest Curlinate (Curlin) came up a nose short of another Baffert trainee in Whiskey Ticket (Ghostzapper) in Hawthorne's GIII Illinois Derby Apr. 18.
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