The talented three-year-old Adventist, who ran third in the Withers Stakes (gr. III), Gotham Stakes (gr. III), and Wood Memorial (gr. I) at Aqueduct this year, is expected to run in the Peter Pan Stakes (gr. II) on May 14th at Belmont Park.
The nine-furlong race is a prep for the June 11th Belmont Stakes (gr. I), a race that Adventist could target if he runs well in the Peter Pan.
“He’s doing really well,” trainer Leah Gyarmati was quoted as saying in a New York Racing Association press release. “I think this track [Belmont Park] will help. He has a lot of room; nice wide turns and [we’ll] try to keep him clear. He’s had some chances to be in the clear but things happen and horses come out and bump him. But that’s racing. You need to be able to handle that.
“I’d like [the Belmont Stakes] to be the long-term goal. We’ll see how he runs in the Peter Pan.”
Adventist had been targeting a run in the May 7th Kentucky Derby (gr. I) at Churchill Downs, but fell just short of qualifying to the race and did not enter. In the Peter Pan Stakes, he will face a solid group of horses that could include the unbeaten Unified, winner of the Bay Shore Stakes (gr. III) at Aqueduct; Governor Malibu, who crossed the wire first in the Federico Tesio Stakes at Pimlico before being disqualified to second; Wild About Deb, a maiden special weight winner at Santa Anita; and Singleton, a maiden trained by Nick Zito.
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