Mor Spirit was all alone at the finish of Saturday’s Mohegan Sun Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park, winning by 6 ¼ lengths under Mike Smith. (Eclipse Sportswire)
One didn't need to look at a tote board or study any past performances lines to make the best educated guess about what the outcome of the $1.2 million Grade 1 Mohegan Sun Metropolitan Handicap would be.
On the day the final leg of the Triple Crown was to be contested, trainer Bob Baffert and jockey Mike Smith flew in to New York and, as the day wore on, completely owned the blockbuster slate of stakes that comprised the June 10 Belmont Stakes undercard. Based solely off what had already played out leading into the Met Mile, the combined presence from a pair of Hall of Famers figured yet again to be an unbeatable force.
In the Met Mile, the final dirt stakes race before the Belmont, hard-knocking Mor Spirit took it to Sharp Azteca early and then put that one in his place en route to a 6 ¼-length win. It marked the fourth victory on the day for Baffert and fifth triumph for Smith – all coming in stakes over Belmont Park's main track.
By post time for the Met Mile, the betting public heeded what was taking place Saturday and sent Mor Spirit off as the 2.55-1 favorite in the 12-horse field. The 4-year-old Eskendereya ridgling held up his end of the bargain and kept a brilliant day going for his reinsman when he raced off Sharp Azteca's throat through opening fractions of :23.20 and :46.05.
Mor Spirit rolled up to stick a head in front coming off the final turn and the result was a foregone conclusion from there. With Smith applying some left-handed encouragement, they hit the wire in a time of 1:33.71 for eight furlongs. That win earned Mor Spirit an automatic berth in the Las Vegas Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, as the Met Mile is a Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series “Win and You’re In” qualifying race.
"It's a pretty incredible day for us. To be able to pull this off... I wish I had another horse in," Baffert said. "I'm so proud of these horses. On a big day like this, for them to run like this, it's pretty incredible.
"I'll never top that day [when American Pharoah won the Triple Crown] but this day is pretty huge. It's pretty big for us. Mainly for those horses. Mike Smith was huge and this is Mike Smith's home. I just have a great team."
Sharp Azteca held on to finish a clear second, with Tommy Macho third and Awesome Slew fourth.
The prestige of the Met Mile adds an substantial amount of gleam to an already solid résumé Mor Spirit has amassed. Aside from a tenth place run in last year's Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands and a fourth-place finish in the Malibu Stakes last December, Mor Spirit has not been worse than second in his 13 career outings. He snapped a three-race losing skid when he took the Essex Handicap at Oaklawn Park March 18 and was coming off a 5 ¾-length victory in the May 7 Steve Sexton Mile Stakes at Lone Star Park.–Alicia Wincze-Hughes
Abel Tasman Too Strong in Acorn
Abel Tasman, winner of the May 5 Longines Kentucky Oaks, put on another last-to-first showcase when she shot up the rail and withstood a challenge in the lane from Salty to capture the $700,000 Grade 1 Acorn Stakes by a length at Belmont Park on the June 10 Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets undercard.
Cutting back to eight furlongs after her 1 1/8-mile Oaks triumph for Baffert, Abel Tasman nonetheless unleashed the same turn of foot that allowed her to reign under the twin spires last month. After she raced at the back of the seven-horse field, while Florida Fabulous cut fractions of :23.32 and :46.79 up front, the daughter of Quality Road accelerated up the inside around the far turn to take command at the head of the lane under a confident ride from Smith.
Gulfstream Park Oaks winner Salty loomed on the outside in the stretch but couldn't close the distance, as Abel Tasman finished up in 1:35.37.
"With this filly here, she's just getting really good and she showed that the Oaks was not a fluke," said Baffert, who added a trip to Saratoga Race Course for the Aug. 19 Alabama Stakes is on the table for the filly. "She's that good a horse. It was pretty exciting. The quality she has, I just see it in the mornings. She's just getting better and better."
Salty held for second, with Benner Island third. –Alicia Wincze-Hughes
Ascend Shocks Manhattan Rivals
While Ascend had never raced in a graded stakes race in his 13-race career, trainer Graham Motion saw enough in his previous two starts to enter him against some of the sport's top turf horses.
Motion's aggressive move would pay dividends on June 10, where Ascend proved up to the class hike by registering a 1 ¼-length victory in the $1 million, Grade 1 Woodford Reserve Manhattan Stakes, the race prior to the Belmont Stakes.
Stone Farm and Madaket Stables' Ascend closed out last season with an allowance win on the Keeneland Race Course turf. The Candy Ride gelding then opened his 5-year-old campaign with a victory in the Henry S. Clark Stakes April 22 at Laurel Park.
"He ran a great race but you don't expect to win at 25-1," Motion said.
Ascend and connections. (Eclipse Sportswire)
Sent off at 27.50-1 with Jose Ortiz riding in the 1 ¼-mile race on Belmont’s inner turf course, Ascend tracked from fourth as the longest shot in the field, Applicator, cruised through a quarter-mile in :24.60 and a half-mile in :50.09. Ortiz kept Ascend near that easy pace, then tipped his mount into the three path at the half-mile pole.
Coming out of the far turn, Ortiz asked for more and Ascend responded. He would reach even terms with the frontrunner and World Approval at the quarter pole, before dueling with the latter in early stretch. Ascend dug in and inched away from rivals, safely ahead of the late rally of 1.35-1 favorite Time Test, who would settle for second, edging Sadler's Joy by a neck.
"He gave him a beautiful ride," Motion said of Ortiz. "He was in a great spot, a good set-up. [It's] pretty much how we thought it'd set up."
Ortiz said his horse found a comfort zone early on his way to completing the race in 1:59.97 on firm turf.
"I stayed behind horses for as long as I could and when they passed the five-eighths pole, I put my horse in the clear," Ortiz said. "When I was ready to move, I did and he responded very well.
"When he switched leads, I touched him on the back with my whip and he took off. He was very comfortable in the last eighth of a mile."
Ascend improved to six wins from 14 starts and boosted his career bankroll to over $900,000.
American Anthem Much the Best in Woody Stephens
It may be the East Coast, but it’s still Bob Baffert’s world.
American Anthem spurted away from 10 foes to easily win the $500,000 Grade 2 Woody Stephens Stakes for 3-year-olds at Belmont, handing the Hall of Fame trainer his third victory on the card following wins from West Coast in the Easy Goer Stakes and Abel Tasman in the Acorn. Mike Smith was aboard for all three Baffert wins through plus Songbird’s victory in the Ogden Phipps Stakes. Incredibly, Baffert and Smith would team up yet again in the feature race of the undercard, winning the Mohegan Sun Metropolitan Handicap with Mor Spirit.
American Anthem (Eclipse Sportswire)
Stakes winner Recruiting Ready set the early pace and maintained his advantage through a half-mile, but as the field got halfway through the turn, American Anthem, the 1.95-1 favorite, made a big sweeping move to assume the advantage. The son of Bodemiester was not threatened late, drawing clear to win the seven-furlong test by 3 ¼ lengths in 1:22.14.
"The odds are usually against you but so far we've had a good trips and good horses," Baffert said. "All you can ask for is that they run as well as they ship. There's a lot of pressure on a big day. You don't want to embarrass a good horse on a big day."
Giuseppe the Great took second by 2 ½ lengths from Recruiting Ready, with Petrov finishing fourth.
American Anthem entered off a solid victory in the May 13 Lazaro Barrera Stakes at Santa Anita Park. Prior to that, he had run poorly in both the Rebel Stakes and the Santa Anita Derby before being pulled off of the Triple Crown trail.
"We kept trying to jump into the Triple Crown thing with him," Smith said. "It might have been a little too much for him at the time. Bob did a great job of assessing that and knowing that and backing way off him. He started back and got him back running short and we'll go from there, see if we can stretch him out later.–Lenny Shulman
Stepping up from an April 14 allowance score at Keeneland Race Course to test top-level company in her second North American start for trainer Chad Brown, the 4-year-old First Defence filly picked up her first Grade 1 victory.
"I don't think that I've ever had a horse in my training career come home that fast on turf, at any distance, at any level," Brown said.
Antonoe (Eclipse Sportswire)
Antonoe was last in the field of seven older fillies and mares through the early going, but jockey Javier Castellano moved his filly down to the inside off the turn for home and she rallied swiftly up the inside to win by three-quarters of a length over pacesetter Sassy Little Lila. Grade 1 winner Dickinson was a nose back in third.
Antonoe’s final time for the mile test was 1:32.12 on firm turf. The order of finish was completed by Harmonize, 2016 Just a Game winner Celestine, Prize Exhibit, and Roca Rojo.
"I had to ride her European-style; a lot of patience (and) save all the ground the best I could," Castellano said. "She cut the corner turning for home. It worked in the finish. You don't see too many horses that (can win) the way she did today. She's really strong. I'm really happy with how she did today. The way she showed me today, the longer, I think, the better."
Kentucky-bred Antonoe broke her maiden in France and won a Group 3 stakes at Chantilly in her first two starts as a juvenile, but then went winless in four starts before shipping to the United States.–Claire Novak
Disco Partner Shatters North American Record in Jaipur
For a second straight year a Patricia Generazio homebred not only won the Grade 3 Jaipur Invitational Stakes but set a course and North American record in the process when Disco Partner rallied to a half-length victory in the $300,000 turf sprint.
Disco Partner (Viola Jasko/Coglianese NYRA photo)
Early on in the six-furlong test on the Belmont Widener turf course, last year's Jaipur winner Pure Sensation blazed through a contested quarter-mile in :21.43 and a half-mile in :43.04 while Disco Partner raced off the pace in eighth. Turning for home, Disco Partner and Irad Ortiz Jr. rallied along the hedge and then split horses to surge past Pure Sensation en route to a half-length victory over favorite Green Mask.
Trained by Christophe Clement, Disco Partner was credited with six furlongs in 1:05.67 on the firm turf, which lowers by more than a second the previous course record set in last year's Jaipur when Pure Sensation won in 1:06.76. That effort also was the North American record for six furlongs on turf. Disco Partner finished second by a neck in last year's Jaipur.
The North American record for six furlongs on dirt was set in 2009 at Turf Paradise when Twin Sparks won a race in 1:06.49.–Frank Angst
War Story Storms the Field to Take Brooklyn
In the first graded stakes of the card, War Story made the last move the winning one as he came from off the pace late to score in the $400,000 Brooklyn Invitational Stakes.
Odds-on favorite Tu Brutus, an 11-length winner of the Flat Out Stakes May 7 at Belmont, set out for the lead immediately, opened up by four lengths going into the first turn and maintained a good lead up the backstretch. After six furlongs in 1:15.85, Tu Brutus saw his lead cut to a length, and Sunny Ridge and then War Story passed the favorite as the field turned for home.
Out wider on the course, jockey Javier Castellano guided 4-1 shot War Story to the outside of Sunny Ridge and the Northern Afleet gelding kicked clear to score by 2 ½ lengths, covering 1 ½ miles in 2:31.02. Sunny Ridge held second with Tu Brutus checking in third.
War Story, who entered off of a third-place finish in the Charles Town Classic and last won in the Queens County Stakes in December, won for the fifth time in 21 starts. The Brooklyn victory pushed him over the $1 million mark in career purse earnings. –Lenny Shulman
