Thurs Night Odds and Ends

- The Peter Pan drew a field of 8. It’s a Grade 2 at 9 furlongs around one turn at Belmont. On first glance, one can easily make a case for 6 of these, and that’s not counting Golden Man, because I’m not buying him at all. Chekov (Pulpit) is the morning line favorite; I was at Belmont the day after the Derby when he won impressively, but he's far from a standout in this field. Dave Liftin in the Form is skeptical that a legitimate Belmont contender will emerge from this race: Unless someone takes a significant step forward, making a case for any of this year's Peter Pan entrants two weeks down the road is a stretch. [DRF] Looks like a fun betting race though; I’ll have to take a closer look. Unfortunately, I’ve been de-Formulated, as the laptop is dead and we’re 100% Mac for now.

- Jeff Mullins says Buzzard’s Bay is “50-50” for the Belmont. He had an extremely fast work - 5f in :57 2/5! - and Mullins said that "He's training like he wants to run seven-eighths right now." [DRF]

- I didn’t know this about the horse who tied the consecutive win mark for trainer Joe Woodward:

Woodard matched Byrne's mark of eight straight wins in the sixth race when his 5-year-old gelded son of Holy Bull, Native Bull, third in a $58,000 allowance at the Keeneland spring meet, dropped into a field of $8,000 claimers to win by 1 1/4 lengths.

Woodard, who had said publicly that the milestone was the impetus for the class drop, lost the horse when he was claimed by owner/trainer Eddie Kenneally. Thirty-two claims were dropped for NativeBull and, after four of the claims were voided, there was a 28-way shake for the horse. [Bloodhorse]

I think that detracts from the record, and I take back the ‘Wow!’ that I wrote earlier.

- Uh-oh, NYRA has apparently missed a payment of $4.4 million due the mutuel clerks’ pension plan, and NYRA’s vice-president Bill Nader says it’s a "cash-flow issue’’ that he hopes to have resolved by September. [Thoroughbred Times]