Master Plan on Schedule for Peter Pan Stakes

Besides celebrating the classic victory of Always Dreaming the morning after winning the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) at Churchill Downs, the Todd Pletcher stable also put in some work.

Namely the multiple Eclipse Award-winning trainer sent out Master Plan, an also-eligible Derby horse who didn't make the field, for a half-mile breeze. The son of Twirling Candy   completed the four furlongs in :48 1/5 and earned the bullet among 21 horses to work the distance.

The breeze keeps WinStar Farm, Al Shaqab Racing, and China Horse Club's Master Plan on schedule for a May 13 start in the $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes (G3) at Belmont Park. With Derby-winning jockey John Velazquez on board, Master Plan enters the 1 1/8-mile test with stakes wins or placings in each of his last three starts.

Master Plan closed out his juvenile season with a runner-up finish in the Pulpit Stakes Dec. 10 at Gulfstream Park, a scheduled turf race moved to the main track. He then won the OBS Championship Stakes (colts and geldings division) on the synthetic surface at Ocala Training Center.

MITCHELL: Master Plan Impresses in OBS Championship Stakes

Off that effort, Master Plan was shipped to Dubai, where he finished third in the UAE Derby Sponsored by the Saeed & Mohammed Al Maboodah Group (G2) March 25 at Meydan.

"Initially when he returned from Dubai we sent him to WinStar for a little bit of a freshening and he's returned well," Pletcher said. "He had two breezes at Churchill and entered into the (Kentucky) Derby and didn't get in, but he breezed on Sunday there and I thought that went well.

"He's coming into this race in good shape. He's a horse that's going to settle in early and make one run. We're thinking the distance should suit him well."

Besides securing his second Derby victory, Pletcher is off to a fast start—even by his high standards—at the current Belmont meeting. He has registered 10 wins from his first 17 starts at the meet through May 7. And for the year his stable ranks first in North American earnings at $10.59 million.

Master Plan drew the rail for the Peter Pan, which saw five other 3-year-olds entered, including NK Racing's Impressive Edge, who finished fourth in both the Swale Stakes (G2) and XpressBet Florida Derby (G1) at Gulfstream. Trained by Dale Romans, the son of Harlan's Holiday has worked four times since the April 1 Florida Derby, and most recently earned the bullet for a half-mile move in :47 4/5 May 8 at Churchill.

Trainer Chad Brown will send out a pair of colts to make their respective stakes debuts in Woodford Racing's Timeline, who rolled to a 13 1/2-length victory in an optional-claiming allowance race April 5 to improve to two-for-two; and Take Your Guns, who scored a 2 1/2-length victory in a maiden special weight race April 15 at Keeneland. Timeline is a son of Hard Spun   and Take Your Guns is a son of Blame  .

Peter Pan S. (G3)

Belmont Park, Saturday, May 13, 2017, Race 4

• 1 1/8m
• Dirt
• $200,000
• 3 yo
• 3:04 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Master Plan (KY)	John R. Velazquez	120	Todd A. Pletcher	2/1
2	2Timeline (KY)	Javier Castellano	116	Chad C. Brown	7/5
3	3Meantime (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	116	Brian A. Lynch	5/1
4	4Impressive Edge (KY)	Luis Saez	116	Dale L. Romans	8/1
5	5Lookin At Blessing (KY)	Kendrick Carmouche	116	Nicholas P. Zito	20/1
6	6Take Your Guns (KY)	Joel Rosario	116	Chad C. Brown	10/1