Growth Equity dominates Peter Pan in Belmont Stakes prep

Even-money favorite Growth Equity ranged up four wide leaving the far turn, took command at the top of the stretch and drew off by 2 lengths Saturday to win the Grade 3, $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes at Aqueduct, giving trainer Chad Brown back-to-back wins in the local prep for the Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets.

Flavien Prat rode the victory for Klaravich Stables in the 1 1/8-mile race, which waived entry and starting fees to the Belmont Stakes for the top three finishers, excluding the Triple Crown supplemental fee. The Belmont will be run June 6 at Saratoga.

The five-horse field went to post after Bull by the Horns scratched to point for next Saturday's Preakness Stakes at Laurel Park. Talk to Me Jimmy (2-1) bobbled at the break under Manuel Franco but recovered quickly and asserted himself over Azam into the first turn, leading in the two path through opening fractions of 23.80 and 48.35 seconds. Gulfy was coaxed up to press the leader's flank along the backstretch as Azam tracked from the rail, Growth Equity (1-1) raced fourth two wide and Trendsetter (5-2) settled at the back under a hard hold.

Talk to Me Jimmy continued to lead through three-quarters of a mile in 1:12.70 as Gulfy turned up the pressure two wide and Growth Equity advanced three wide on the far turn under mild coaxing. Prat asked his colt for run nearing the quarter pole, swung four wide leaving the turn and gained command at the top of the stretch.

"Good setup. Very handy horse. Gave me a good run when I asked him," Prat said. "I thought there would be a couple of horses in front of me. Going a mile and an eighth for the first time, I wanted to save ground a bit. I was happy where I was going down the backside, and I was able to get him in the clear."

Growth Equity drew clear under a hand ride with a couple of left-handed taps from the crop, hitting the wire in 1:50.25 over the good and harrowed main track. He paid $4.04, $2.50 and $2.10, with $110,000 going to Klaravich Stables as the winner's share.

"He got a nice education today by rating and losing plenty of ground on the final turn where he needed to be to go around those two horses," Brown said. "He went a bit further than a mile and an eighth today, and he did it well. He looked a winner every step of the way. All that was a real positive for him today, and he probably ran a lifetime figure again."

Talk to Me Jimmy fought back gamely along the rail to hold second for trainer Rudy Rodriguez and returned $3.40 and $2.12.

"He ran a good race. We were where we wanted to be on the lead, nice, comfortable, nobody pressing us," Rodriguez said. "This is a stakes race. You can't take anything away from the winner."

Trendsetter swung six wide turning for home under Kazushi Kimura, rallied for the show award and edged Gulfy by a neck, paying $2.18. Gulfy pressed the pace, angled out at the furlong marker and faded to finish fourth, 5 1/2 lengths behind the winner. Azam (28-1) tracked from the inside, fell back leaving the three-eighths pole and tired to finish last, 26 lengths back.

Brown captured the Peter Pan for the second consecutive year and the fourth time overall. Hill Road won the 2025 renewal for Klaravich Stables, and Brown also took the prize with Country Grammer in 2020 and Timeline in 2017. Prat earned his third Peter Pan victory after riding We the People to the 2022 win and Hill Road last year.

A bay colt by Nyquist out of the Grade 3-placed Wildcat Heir mare My Dear Venezuela, Growth Equity was bred in Kentucky by Stone Farm and was a $425,000 purchase at the 2024 Keeneland September yearling sale. His dam is a half-sister to Grade 2-placed multiple stakes winner Selva. Growth Equity improved his record to 4: 2-2-0 after second-place finishes in his first two starts and a 4 1/4-length maiden victory March 20 at Aqueduct.

Brown stopped short of pointing his colt to the Belmont, where he would face the prospect of stretching out to 1 1/4 miles for the first time.

"He didn't scream to me like he wanted more ground after this, so I'm not sure I'm in a hurry to get him out to a mile and a quarter in the Belmont, but he handled this well and there's a lot of mile and an eighth races that are just fine to run in going forward," Brown said. "I'll talk to Seth Klarman. Talking to Flavien, he wasn't against more ground. We need to unpack it a bit later on."

Rodriguez said Talk to Me Jimmy, a New York-bred, will be considered for the Belmont as well as the New York Derby on July 13 at Finger Lakes.