Coal Front drills for Metropolitan Handicap

ELMONT, N.Y. – Todd Pletcher knows the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap is going to be “a nasty race,” but in Coal Front, he feels he has a horse who can get down and dirty with the best of them.

On Friday, Coal Front worked a strong five furlongs in 1:00.65 over the Belmont Park training track, galloping out six furlongs in 1:14.05, seven furlongs in 1:27.15, and completing a mile in 1:41.12 under jockey Jose Ortiz.

“That’s kind of the way he’s trained all along. He seems to get into a comfortable rhythm and keeps going,” Pletcher said.

It was the fourth workout for Coal Front since he returned to New York following his three-quarter-length victory in the Grade 2 Godolphin Mile in Dubai on March 30 and a brief stint at WinStar Farm in Lexington, Ky.

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“To me, he’s taken the trip as well as you could ever hope one would,” Pletcher said. “His weight was very good when he arrived at WinStar, and his energy level was good. He started back there, and all indications were he’s good to go. The Metropolitan was the race we had in mind should he come back and tell us he’s ready to go. He’s given us every indication that he is.”

Coal Front is 7 for 9 in his career, including Grade 3 victories in the Mr. Prospector at Gulfstream in December and the Razorback at Oaklawn in February. In the Met Mile, he will be facing a field expected to include Mitole, a winner of six straight, including the Grade 1 Churchill Downs; two-time Dubai World Cup winner Thunder Snow; and Grade 1 winners Firenze Fire and Promises Fulfilled.

“I think he’s part of why it’s a strong race,” Pletcher, a two-time Met Mile winner, said of Coal Front. “He’s an awfully good horse. He’s put together a very strong résumé. He likes to win, but it’s a nasty race, no doubt about it.”