A historic edition of the Metropolitan Handicap (G1) promises a showdown of two of the top handicap horses in North America as last year's Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) winner White Abarrio and Preakness Stakes (G1) winner National Treasure are entered.
Offering a $1 million purse, this year's one-mile test for 3-year-olds and older moves from its regular home at Belmont Park to Saratoga Race Course. The Met Mile is one of a half-dozen grade 1 stakes on the June 8 Belmont Stakes (G1) card, as the classic moves to Saratoga while Belmont Park is rebuilt.
The venue change will see the most high-profile race to date be contested out of the Wilson Chute, which extends off the first turn to allow Saratoga to offer one-mile races on the dirt. Belmont features a more traditional one-turn mile format where the starting position simply allows for a longer run into the far turn.
Oddly enough both White Abarrio and National Treasure will be making their first starts since the lucrative Saudi Cup (G1) Feb. 24 at King Abdulaziz Racecourse when they enter the gate as part of an expected field of six.
White Abarrio opened the season in the Saudi Cup where he raced in his usual tracking position. He made a bit of a move coming out of the single turn in that about 1 1/8-mile race but flattened and finished 10th.
Trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. said the rest time followed by preparations for the Met Mile had been the plan since winter for the 5-year-old son of Race Day who closed 2023 with a clear victory in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1). Dutrow said White Abarrio, who is campaigned by C2 Racing Stable, Prince Faisal bin Khaled bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, and Antonio Pagnano, has been progressing well in the mornings. He added the horse's personality is the kind he loves being around. Since May 3 White Abarrio has worked six times on the Belmont training track, including a bullet half-mile move in :47.58 among 90 workers May 17.
"He's all racehorse. He loves training, he loves racing, he loves competing and winning," said Dutrow, who previously won the Met Mile in 2006 with Silver Train. "He understands he's supposed to try to win the race when he's out there. Once in a while, you can play around with him but most of the time he's all business. He wants to be a racehorse."
Winner of the 2022 Florida Derby (G1), White Abarrio will be returning to Saratoga where last year he won the Whitney Stakes (G1) by 6 1/4 lengths, handing eventual Horse of the Year Cody's Wish his only loss of the season.
National Treasure closed last season with a narrow loss to Cody's Wish in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) then opened this season with a narrow victory over Senor Buscador in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) at Gulfstream Park before a solid run in the Saudi Cup, finishing fourth in a race Senor Buscador won.
While the Dirt Mile was at two turns and the Met Mile will be out of the chute, trainer Bob Baffert thinks the distance should be a good fit for National Treasure, who he trains for SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Robert Masterson, Stonestreet Stables, Jay Schoenfarber, Waves Edge Capital, and Catherine Donovan.
"He ran extremely well in the Breeders' Cup. This is a one-turn-ish kind of race, and you don't know how they're going to react to that. But, he's doing well," said Baffert, who won the Met Mile in 2017 with Mor Spirit . "These grade 1s, especially at Saratoga, they're so competitive.
"It's going to be a tough race, but he's a good horse when he shows up. I like what I'm seeing."
The accomplished field of six also includes this year's Carter Stakes (G2) winner Post Time for owner Hillwood Stable and trainer Brittany Russell. The Maryland-bred is a 4-year-old son of 2016 record-breaking Met Mile winner Frosted .
Trainer Chad Brown will send out Rodeo Creek Racing's Blazing Sevens , who won the 2022 Champagne Stakes (G1) in his juvenile season and just missed in last year's Preakness, where he settled for second, a head behind National Treasure. The 4-year-old son of Good Magic prepped with a clear victory in a one-mile allowance-level race April 20 at Aqueduct Racetrack and has impressed Brown in the mornings.
"He's going to have to be at this best because it's a tough field but I do feel like this horse is going as well as he was when he almost won the Preakness last year," Brown said.
Rounding out the field are multiple grade 2 winner Hoist the Gold and Castle Chaos, who finished a close second in the Carter.
The Met Mile is a Breeders' Cup Challenge Series race for the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, awarding the winner a fees-paid start in that race this fall at Del Mar.
Saratoga Race Course, Saturday, June 8, 2024, Race 10Entries: Hill 'N' Dale Metropolitan H. (G1)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Castle Chaos (KY) Dylan Davis 118 Robert N. Falcone, Jr. 20/1 2 2National Treasure (KY) Flavien Prat 125 Bob Baffert 8/5 3 3Post Time (MD) Sheldon Russell 120 Brittany T. Russell 7/2 4 4Blazing Sevens (KY) Manuel Franco 122 Chad C. Brown 8/1 5 5Hoist the Gold (KY) John R. Velazquez 120 Dallas Stewart 15/1 6 6White Abarrio (KY) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 126 Richard E. Dutrow, Jr. 6/5
