Awesome Slew drills for second crack at Met Mile
ELMONT, N.Y. – When trying to determine why Awesome Slew ran so poorly in last year’s Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap, trainer Mark Casse felt one potential reason was that he shipped the horse to New York too late.
This year, Casse decided to ship the horse to Belmont early enough to get him a workout over the main track in preparation for the $1.2 million Met Mile. That plan fell through when Mother Nature doused the area with heavy rain Friday morning, prompting assistant trainer Jamie Begg to move Awesome Slew’s work to the training track.
As the rain started to pick up at 8:27 a.m., Awesome Slew worked a half-mile in 49.25 seconds, getting his final quarter in 24.10 before galloping out five furlongs in 1:02.03.
Casse, who watched a video of the work that Begg had sent him, said, “I thought he worked really nice. The rider was happy, Jamie was happy, so I’m happy.”
Casse has had Awesome Slew for 10 starts beginning in February 2017. In those starts, all graded stakes, Awesome Slew finished in the top three in all but the Met Mile.
“That was one race I kind of struggled with trying to figure out why he didn’t run better,” Casse said. “I thought it was his poorest performance. We shipped him in a little too late, I thought. That was one of the reasons why I sent him up there a little early, switch things up.”
Last year, Awesome Slew came into the Met Mile off a head loss in the Grade 2 Churchill Downs. This year, he will enter off a neck loss in the same race.
The Met Mile, which will be drawn Tuesday for next Saturday’s card, is expected to include Bee Jersey, Bolt d’Oro, Good Samaritan, McCraken, Mind Your Biscuits, Ransom the Moon, and Warrior’s Club.
Casse also shipped in several other stakes runners for next weekend.
Gio Game, pointing to the Grade 1 Acorn, went a half-mile in 49.79 seconds over the training track. La Coronel, pointing to the Grade 1 Just a Game, went a half-mile in 50 seconds. Holding Gold, pointing to the Grade 2 Japuir, went a half-mile in 49.53.
