Weyburn To Skip Kentucky Derby, Point For Belmont Stakes

Gotham Stakes winner Weyburn will not contest the Kentucky Derby on May 1, racing manager Robert Landry told the Daily Racing Form on Monday. Instead, the 3-year-old son of Pioneerof the Nile will start in the G3 Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park on May 8 as a prep for the Belmont Stakes on June 5.

“The right thing for the horse is to miss the Derby,” Landry told DRF. “I think (trainer) Jimmy (Jerkens) and I are on the same page with that. I think this horse is going to mature a lot more. The family history is they get better with age.”

Fourth last out in the G2 Wood Memorial, Weyburn is a homebred for Chiefswood Stables. He is out of the unraced A.P. Indy mare Sunday Affair, also the dam of multiple graded stakes-winning sprinter Yorkton and mulitple stakes-placed Nipigon.

Jerkens had suggested Weyburn would be a better fit for the Belmont Stakes even before the horse contested the Wood.

“We kind of have that in the back of our head that we'd more apt to aim for something like that than the Derby,” Jerkens told NYRA publicity. “He's a horse that takes some time to get used to new places. He's high maintenance in that regard. We'd like to stretch the year out a little more.”

Read more at the Daily Racing Form.

The post Weyburn To Skip Kentucky Derby, Point For Belmont Stakes appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Weyburn ‘Bred To Have The Stamina And Built To Handle The Distance’ Of U.S., Canadian Classics

Rob Landry, Hall of fame jockey and Chiefswood Stables General Manager, shares his thoughts on Gotham Stakes upsetter Weyburn:

Horse: Weyburn
Sire: Pioneerof the Nile
Dam: Sunday Affair
Trainer: Jimmy Jerkens
Owner & Breeder: Chiefswood Stables
Record: 2-1-0 from 4 starts

On Weyburn's Gotham score…

“It's nice to start the year with a win like that. We've always had high hopes for this guy. The plan wasn't really to run in him there – we were going to run him in an allowance race – but as it turned out, it worked out really well. This is what you hope to achieve, to win races like this with good horses. Winning a race like this just solidifies what we're trying to achieve.”

On the dark bay's grit down the lane…

“No, I wasn't surprised. That whole family, Yorkton [a multiple graded stakes winning son of Speightstown-Sunday Affair] was a gutsy-running horse and the same thing with his other half-brother Nipigon [a multiple graded stakes placed son of Niigon-Sunday Affair], who always fought hard. Obviously, seasoning-wise, he's still a big kid, and it was a big step up for him, going from a maiden win to a graded stakes race. It wasn't the plan, but good horses overcome those kinds of things. Jimmy [trainer, Jerkens] was really happy with the way he was training and it all worked out.”

On showing his talent early on…

“He trained really well as a young horse when we had him down in Ocala. He was training well and we were really happy with him. Every foal out of that mare [Sunday Affair] has been a runner. That's always telling too. He was a big, good-looking horse, very athletic and he was showing the signs early. He actually wanted to do more than he was ready to do as a young horse. I'm just happy with our whole team, from our broodmare farm, to our training centre, to our people in Ocala, to Jimmy – it's a team effort. Everyone has done a tremendous job with this horse. I'm just very happy for everyone and the owners.”

On upcoming plans for Weyburn…

“Obviously, I didn't nominate him to the U.S. Triple Crown with the way we were going. We had a couple of minor setbacks with a foot bruise and some other little things that caused us to miss a race. I don't like to force horses somewhere they're not ready to go. He stepped up and we have a little time to make the supplemental payment for the U.S. Triple Crown. I'll talk to Jimmy and Mark and Bob Krembil [Chiefswood] as well.”

“We don't know if that [Queen's Plate] is the direction we'll go with him. If we think he's good enough to compete in the U.S. Triple Crown, being a different schedule, we still do have a shot at being in the Plate. We've nominated him for the Plate, but we do have some others that could potentially run in there as well.”

On similarities between Weyburn and Niigon, the Chiefswood horse Landry won the 2004 Queen's Plate with…

“He does remind me of Niigon. Weyburn is also bred to have the stamina and is built to handle the [1 ¼ mile] distance. This is a really nice horse we have here now.”

The post Weyburn ‘Bred To Have The Stamina And Built To Handle The Distance’ Of U.S., Canadian Classics appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Gotham Longshot Weyburn Has ‘High Cruising Speed,’ Should Flourish Going Two Turns

Chiefswood Stables homebred Weyburn, a 20-1 morning-line assessment for Saturday's Grade 3 Gotham, breezed three-eighths in 35.42 seconds Thursday on the Belmont dirt training track.

Rob Landry, a Canadian Hall of Fame jockey and general manager for Chiefswood, said the Jimmy Jerkens trainee will be ready to fire fresh off a third-out maiden win in December when sprinting seven furlongs over a sloppy and sealed Big A main track that garnered a 69 Beyer.

“Jimmy said he's been training well. He went in 35 and change this morning,” said Landry. “We had him entered a few weeks' back in a stakes at Aqueduct [Jimmy Winkfield on Jan. 31] but he had a foot abscess and had to scratch, so we're looking to get him started back.”

Voted Canada's Outstanding Jockey in both 1993 and 1994, Landry was aboard Chiefswood Stables' Niigon to win a thrilling renewal of the 2004 Queen's Plate, ahead of a third at Saratoga in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy won by Purge.

Landry enjoyed his best moment in New York when piloting Careless Jewel to victory in the 2009 edition of the Grade 1 Alabama at Saratoga.

“I had some luck at Saratoga and ended up winning one race there, but it was a Grade 1,” said Landry. “I loved riding at Saratoga because of the history.”

The Ontario-bred Weyburn, a son of Pioneerof the Nile, is out of the A.P. Indy mare Sunday Affair, making him a half-brother to the versatile multiple graded stakes winner Yorkton, who now stands at Pope McLean's Crestwood Farm in Kentucky.

While Yorkton displayed sprint speed through stakes wins on turf and synthetic, Landry said the sizable Weyburn will appreciate a distance of ground.

“I see him having a lot of stamina,” said Landry. “Yorkton is a son of Speightstown and lot of them are very good at a mile. Yorkton was a very quick horse. I think Weyburn is a little different as he has a high cruising speed but he doesn't have the speed Yorkton had. I see Weyburn flourishing when he goes two turns. He's built like that and he's a big horse. He's lightly raced and I think he'll get better with age.”

Landry acknowledged the Gotham, a 50-20-10-5 Kentucky Derby qualifying race, is a difficult spot to start Weyburn back in action.

“We didn't nominate him for the American Triple Crown because of where we were at with him,” said Landry. “Our plan was an allowance race and to go through his conditions but that didn't pan out and this race is here. We didn't want to cut him back and I don't want to keep him sitting in the barn. We'll see where we're at, it's a very difficult race.”

Chiefswood Stables have expanded their U.S. presence in recent years and in addition to a trio of horses with Jerkens [Edge of Fire, Hard Edge], the Ontario-based outfit also have horses in training with Graham Motion and Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey.

Landry said he is hopeful Weyburn can progress towards a start in the second and third leg of the U.S. Triple Crown, although the 162nd running of the $1 million Queen's Plate, first jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown on August 22 at Woodbine Racetrack remains in play.

“It might be a little late now for the Derby, but if he was ever good enough for the Preakness or the Belmont this is when you're going to tell,” said Landry. “We've sent a lot of horses down to the states and we're trying to focus on the U.S. races. We'd never take the Plate out of the question, but we're trying to play the game at the highest level. With Weyburn being a half-brother to Yorkton, a good result in this race would really help Yorkton's profile as well.”

The post Gotham Longshot Weyburn Has ‘High Cruising Speed,’ Should Flourish Going Two Turns appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights