ELMONT, N.Y. - Elite Power, the reigning champion sprinter, will run in the Grade 2, $250,000 True North Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs and not the Grade 1, $1 million Metropolitan Handicap on the June 10 Belmont Stakes program, trainer Bill Mott said Sunday. Elite Power, who has won six consecutive races, has not run since his 3 1/4-length victory in the Grade 3 Riyadh Dirt Sprint in Saudi Arabia on Feb. 25. Between having to stay in Saudi Arabia for a week after the race, having to do a week of quarantine when he returned to the U.S., followed by some time off on the farm, Mott doesn’t feel Elite Power would be ready for a race as tough as the Met Mile. “If you were telling me I was going in a beaten allowance or an other-than, am I ready for it? Yeah,” Mott said at Belmont Sunday. “Am I ready for the Met Mile? I don’t feel like it.” Mott said his decision not to run Elite Power in the Met Mile is not based on the fact he has Cody’s Wish, a winner of five straight including the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and recent winner of the Grade1 Churchill Downs Stakes, for that race. :: Take your handicapping to the next level and play with FREE DRF Past Performances - Formulator or Classic.  “The Met Mile is always tough,” Mott said. “It doesn’t matter if Cody’s Wish is in there or not, you’re going to have good horses in there. I’ve never seen a Met Mile come up soft.” Other names being mentioned for the Met Mile include Taiba, Repo Rocks, Doppelganger and Zandon. Mott said a race like the Grade 1 Vanderbilt at Saratoga on July 29 could be Elite Power’s next start after the True North. Then, Mott could foresee a scenario in which Elite Power and Cody’s Wish meet for the first time in the Grade 1 Forego at Saratoga on Aug. 26. “Will I have a conflict in the Forego? Maybe. But if I do, I do,” Mott said. Since the Churchill Downs Stakes victory, Cody’s Wish has fired two bullet works over Saratoga’s Oklahoma training track, a half-mile in 46.55 seconds on May 19 and a five-furlong move in 59.08 seconds on Friday. “Couldn’t be doing any better,” Mott said. Mott will have several of his other stars in action during Belmont Stakes week including War Like Goddess in the Grade 1 New York on June 9 and Casa Creed in the Grade 1 Jaipur on June 10. Mott also nominated Frank’s Rockette in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps, but he is not certain to run her in that 1 1/16-mile race. War Like Goddess, who has won 10 of 14 starts, is coming off a third straight victory in the Grade 3 Bewitch at Keeneland in April. She has worked twice including a half-mile in 49.12 seconds last Friday over Saratoga’s Oklahoma training track. Casa Creed, who won the Jaipur and Grade 1 Fourstardave last year, is coming off a second-place finish, beaten a head, by Bathrat Leon, in the Grade 3 1351 Turf Sprint in Saudi Arabia. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.