Peter Pan Stakes 2025
Three-year-old horses are all the rage at this time of the year. While we’re in between Triple Crown races, there is a 3-year-old event to closely monitor, as it is considered the “local” prep race for the Belmont Stakes. It is the Peter Pan Stakes, which will be run at Aqueduct as part of the “Belmont at The Big A” meet, as Belmont Park won’t reopen until next year.
This Grade 3 stakes race is Race 11 on your Saturday May 10 card with a post time of 6:46 p.m. ET. It is a $200,000 purse and the race will be run of 1 ⅛ miles, which is a good bit shorter than the Belmont, which is 1 ½ miles. Ten horses are slated for the starting gate and we’ll see if the winner or any others in the field opt to run the last leg of the Triple Crown on June 7.
Here are the entries and the odds for the Peter Pan Stakes 2025:
| Post | Horse | Jockey | Trainer | Odds |
| 1 | Vassimo | I. Ortiz Jr. | T. Pletcher | 5-1 |
| 2 | Happily Delusional | P. Lopez | L. Linder Jr. | 20-1 |
| 3 | Surfside Moon | J. Alvarado | J. Lawrence II | 8-1 |
| 4 | Hill Road | F. Prat | C. Brown | 5/2 |
| 5 | McAfee | J. Velazquez | R. Dutrow Jr. | 8-1 |
| 6 | Uncaged | K. Carmouche | T. Pletcher | 8-1 |
| 7 | First Pitch | J. Lezcano | J. Jimenez | 50-1 |
| 8 | Captain Cook | M. Franco | R. Dutrow Jr. | 2-1 |
| 9 | Brereton’s Baytown | M. Mendez | P. McEntee | 50-1 |
| 10 | Lordship | D. Davis | C. Brown | 12-1 |
Based on the odds, we have multiple contenders to hit the board, though it does appear that there are a couple of horses we can toss right away. Captain Cook and Hill Road have the shortest prices, as Vassimo has to deal with the rail draw and others in the field are less experienced with stakes races or this type of distance.
Notes on all 10 Peter Pan Stakes horses:
1. Vassimo (5-1; I. Ortiz Jr/Pletcher): The first of two Pletcher entries in the field is the son of Nyquist and Bsharpsonata. He was clearly outclassed in Kentucky Derby prep races at Fair Grounds, finishing fourth in the Grade 2 Risen Star and sixth in the Louisiana Derby. Pletcher is in search of his sixth Peter Pan win, so he certainly has a feel for this race and which ones to send out from his stable. Pletcher’s hope here is that in a race lacking speed out of the gate, Vassimo can get a better start for top rider Irad Ortiz Jr. and maybe let the field chase him instead of the other way around.
2. Happily Delusional (20-1; Lopez/Linder): Happily Delusional is the horse with the second-most data points heading into this one, having raced eight times. He is also entered in the Long Branch at Monmouth Park and may ultimately end up there with a better chance to win, especially because Lordship looks to be in this field and not that one. If he does run here, the speed figures are not very impressive for the son of Flatter and Tattersail, including two fourth-place finishes at Parx and Laurel Park, respectively, in listed stakes events.
3. Surfside Moon (8-1; Alvarado/Lawrence): Horses at this age can be temperamental and inconsistent and those two adjectives fit Surfside Moon perfectly. He looked tremendous in breaking his maiden on the turf at Delaware Park last August before transitioning back to dirt for the Laurel Futurity. He ran fifth there, but ran second on this very track in the Withers Stakes a couple races later. There is something here for Junior Alvarado and James Lawrence, but who knows if it will show up. This is the seventh different rider in eight races for the Malibu Moon colt.
4. Hill Road (5/2; Prat/Brown): The dynamic duo of Flavien Prat and Chad Brown will always take action and that will be the case here with Hill Road. This field may set up very well for the son of Quality Road and Exotic Notion, as he’s a deep closer in a field lacking top-end speed to get out and set a pace that requires some effort over the final few furlongs. After starting on Irish turf, he ran third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and then came off of a winter hiatus to run third in the Tampa Bay Derby behind Owen Almighty and Chancer McPatrick.
Owen Almighty ran a very admirable fifth in the Kentucky Derby and Chancer McPatrick won two Grade 1 stakes races last year, the Hopeful and Champagne. Interestingly, Prat rode Chancer McPatrick for Brown in both of those dirt races above. Now he goes to Hill Road, who was steered by Tyler Gaffalione in the TB Derby.
5. McAfee (8-1; Velazquez/Dutrow): Blinkers go on here for McAfee, as the first of two Rick Dutrow Jr. entries in the Peter Pan Stakes. This feels like the wild card to watch on Saturday. The blinkers could help. This could also be a horse that just needs to run more often. He is a half-brother to Thorpedo Anna and won his maiden at six furlongs last year before taking the coldest parts of the winter off. Two stakes races at Aqueduct yielded fifth-place finishes (Gotham, Wood Memorial), so confidence is light in this horse, but there is some promise. If not here, keep tabs throughout the summer.
6. Uncaged (6-1; Carmouche/Pletcher): The well-bred son of Curlin and grandson of Pioneerof the Nile rolled to a one-mile win on a muddy track at Aqueduct last time out. After winning his maiden debut at Saratoga in August, he didn’t run again until March. Clearly there was some rust on the Gulfstream Park surface to shake off with a fourth-place finish. It sure seems like Pletcher made a calculated decision not to run any of the undercard races at Churchill, like the Pat Day Mile, to point him towards this race and maybe the Belmont.
I trust Pletcher’s knowledge of the New York racing scene implicitly and I think he thinks he’s got a rocket ship here. Carmouche also gets his second straight ride on Uncaged.
7. First Pitch (50-1; Lezcano/Jimenez): A case could be made that the light came on for First Pitch last time out as a runaway winner at 1 ⅛ on March 23 to break his maiden. On the other hand, that field was nothing like what we’ll see here. His 1:57:25 time over 1 ⅛ miles is pretty indicative, as we’ve only had two times in the 1:50s win this race since 1995 and those were 1:51.62 and 1:50.71.
8. Captain Cook (2-1; Franco/Dutrow): The other Dutrow entry was the morning line favorite as of Thursday, as Captain Cook looks to replicate his Withers performance, not his Wood Memorial effort. The Captain was first in the Withers at 1:51.83 and that would have him very much in contention for the victory here. He’s never run a race in the mud, so we may have to keep an eye on the forecast for Saturday, especially because he seemed to run out of gas late in the Wood over this same distance.
However, he did win over Surfside Moon in the Withers at this same distance. The son of Practical Joke and grandson of Santa Anita Derby winner Indian Charlie simply might not be bred well enough for the distance. His mother was a sprinter and Practical Joke never won a race longer than a mile.
9. Brereton’s Baytown (30-1; Mendez/McEntee): The most experienced horse in the field breaks from the 9 post in the Peter Pan Stakes. Brereton’s Baytown has 11 races to his name, but has only won two of them and hasn’t even hit the board in any of the other ones. He was well off the pace in the Rebel Stakes and Arkansas Derby. His claiming win at Laurel Park in February came on a sloppy track, so maybe he can pass some of the field if it’s muddy, but that would be about it.
10. Lordship (12-1; Davis/Brown): The other entry for Chad Brown is Lordship from the far outside. While the morning line suggests long shot, the odds at post are unlikely to do so, as you have a Brown horse out of Gun Runner with a maternal grandfather who was a monster on turf at all distances in Giant’s Causeway. All but one of Gun Runner’s wins came over a mile. Lordship won at a mile and 40 in his maiden at Tampa Bay Downs and Brown wasted no time cross-entering him in this race and the Long Branch. You have to think he wants to test him in a graded stakes race here.
And it just might be a test that he aces. It would absolutely take a leap in terms of speed figure and running class, but Dylan Davis can keep him outside the fray as long as he needs to and he overcame a terrible start with a tremendous close in that maiden.
Peter Pan Stakes 2025 Picks
There are 10 horses here and it feels like seven of them could win this race, but there are some I like more than others.
6 Uncaged is one of them. Pletcher knows NY racing like I said and I really think the March showing at GP was a combination of rust and maybe a bad track fit. Back in New York, with blinkers for a second straight race, he’s my favorite win contender.
Of the favorites, give me 4 Hill Road. Prat (and maybe even Brown) preferring Chancer McPatrick makes sense, but I like Prat getting the ride this time around in a race that is missing elite talent. The closing style while being able to stalk a less-than-stellar pace sets up well.
10 Lordship is super intriguing. The one data point is nice, but the price is nicer. We may still get double digits on Saturday here. If not double digits, something 8-1ish or so.
I’m putting some eggs in the Uncaged basket here for sure.
Bets for a $50 bankroll
$10 Win: 6 ($10)
$10 Key Trifecta: 4, 6/10 ($20)
$5 Key Trifecta: 6, 4/10 ($10)
$5 Exacta Box: 4/6 ($10)
