Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
McKinzie faces strong cast in second try at Met Mile
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Bob Baffert tries not to think about last year’s Runhappy Metropolitan Handicap, where McKinzie encountered traffic trouble in the stretch and had to settle for second to Mitole.
“Last year, it was worth $1.2 million, so that’s the part that stung the worst,” Baffert said. “But we don’t worry about that, that’s old news. That’s over with.”
Saturday, McKinzie will get a chance to get his Met Mile victory when he starts from post 3 as the 125-pound highweight in a field of eight entered Wednesday. The purse of the Met Mile is $500,000 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic that shut down racing on this circuit for 80 days.
Should he win, McKinzie would become that rare individual to win Grade 1 races at ages 2, 3, 4, and 5. McKinzie won the Los Alamitos Futurity at 2, the Pennsylvania Derby at 3, and the Whitney last year.
McKinzie, who will be ridden by Mike Smith, will face a strong field that includes Code of Honor, last year’s Travers and Jockey Club Gold Cup winner, who drew post 5, and Vekoma, who is coming off a smashing performance in the Grade 1 Carter here four weeks ago. Vekoma, trained by George Weaver, drew post 2.
Network Effect, second to Vekoma, drew the rail while outside of McKinzie are, in order, Hog Creek Hustle, Code of Honor, Endorsed, Mr Freeze, and Warrior’s Charge.
The Met Mile, which offers a fees-paid berth into the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 7 at Keeneland, will go as race 9 on an 11-race card.
Mr. Buff should move forward
Over his last 20 races, spanning two years, Mr. Buff has only been noncompetitive in the three graded stakes races in which he’s run.
Saturday, the 6-year-old New York-bred millionaire will try again to make the grade when he runs in the Grade 2, $200,000 Suburban Stakes.
Trainer John Kimmel said that while he is running Mr. Buff in the Suburban because he has “nowhere else to go,” he doesn’t see why the horse shouldn’t be competitive in the 1 1/4-mile spot.
“He looks to me like he has the best numbers and he looks like he’s the controlling speed in the race,” Kimmel said.
Mr. Buff is coming off a second-place finish to Funny Guy in the Commentator Stakes. That followed a near four-month layoff and being out of training for one month while on the farm.
Kimmel is hoping the effort in the Commentator moves him forward.
Junior Alvarado will ride Mr. Buff from post 4 in the Suburban, which goes as the last of 11 races on the card.
From the rail out, the Suburban field is Tacitus, Parsimony, Forewarned, Mr. Buff, Joevia,
Sir Winston, Just Whistle, and Moretti.
Sadler’s Joy back again
Sadler’s Joy finished third in the Grade 1 Manhattan in 2018 and second in it last year. His connections hope there is one more step forward Saturday when Sadler’s Joy makes his third start in the $400,000 Manhattan at 1 1/4 miles on turf.
Sadler’s Joy, trained by Tom Albertrani for Woodslane Farm, is coming out of a thirdplace finish in the Tiller Stakes here June 4, where he was beaten two lengths by the loose-on-the-lead Paret.
The Manhattan, from the rail out, is Instilled Regard, Rockemperor, Cross Border, Sadler’s Joy, Devamani, Channel Maker, Dot Matrix, and Spooky Channel.
Got Stormy facing males
After scratching her out of the Grade 1 Just a Game, trainer Mark Casse has rerouted Got Stormy to Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Poker Stakes, where she will take on males for the fourth time in her career in the one-mile turf race.
Casse said he scratched Got Stormy from the Just a Game after it rained midway through the card.
“For me to run against those kind of fillies she needs everything to be perfect for her, and that just wasn’t the case,” Casse said. “I thought it was a pretty easy decision.”
Got Stormy beat males in the Grade 1 Fourstardave at Saratoga last summer and then finished second to the mare Uni when both beat the boys in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita. Earlier this year, Got Stormy finished second to River Boyne in the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita.
The Poker field, from the rail out is Eons, Valid Point, Hawkish, Seismic Wave, Social Paranoia, Flavius, Got Stormy, It’s All Relevant (main track only), and Value Proposition.
Up in Smoke seeks graded win
Up in Smoke, undefeated in four tries sprinting, will try to add the Grade 3, $100,000 Victory Ride Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs to her résumé Saturday.
A Florida-bred daughter of The Big Beast, Up in Smoke is coming off a two-length victory in the Game Face Stakes at Gulfstream Park, where she raced five times from Feb. 8 through June 6. Her lone loss in those starts was a fourth-place finish when she tried 1 1/16 miles around two turns in the Hollywood Wildcat Stakes.
The only other stakes winner in the field is Frank’s Rockette, who won the Any Limit Stakes by seven lengths at Gulfstream in February.
Others entered in the Victory Ride, at six furlongs, are Center Aisle, Miss Peppina, and Reagan’s Edge.