Expensive yearling Metfardeh might finally put it together
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OZONE PARK, N.Y. – It certainly wasn’t by design that Metfardeh would be making her fourth career start at Aqueduct in early January of her 4-year-old season when the daughter of Into Mischief sold for $2.3 million as a yearling in fall 2023.
Perhaps her maiden win last November was a sign that Metfardeh can still have a successful career. Sunday, she will take the next step as she heads a field of eight older fillies and mares entered to run 1 1/8 miles in a first-level allowance race at Aqueduct.
That allowance is the co-feature on an eight race card that also includes a first-level allowance for older males going 6 1/2 furlongs.
Metfardeh is by the super stallion Into Mischief out of the Tapit mare Delightful Joy, a Grade 3 winner who produced the Grade 2 winner Window Shopping. She is owned by Shadwell Stable and trained by Todd Pletcher.
Metfardeh was close to running as a 2-year-old but had to be stopped on in late summer 2024. She had a long list of workouts leading up her to debut in August 2025, when she finished second behind runaway winner Delightful Claire. After finishing fifth in her second start, Metfardeh final broke through with her maiden victory by 2 3/4 lengths on Nov. 12.
That race was run as a one-turn mile. Sunday’s race is run at 1 1/8 miles around two turns.
“We feel like there’s some talent there. It’s been a little slow to come to hand,” Pletcher said. “Seems like she’s on the improve. I want to give her a try at a mile and an eighth before we decide what to do for the winter.”
Pletcher has a second runner in the race in Noticeable, who won her maiden at Gulfstream in September before finishing last of seven in the Grade 3 Comely Stakes on Dec. 7. In addition to dropping into allowance company, Noticeable will have blinkers added to her equipment.
“Just feel like she’s been a little bit distracted, looking around a little bit,” Pletcher said. “At this stage, we need to find a few lengths.”
Linda Rice also has two entrants in the field with Purloin looking the stronger of the pair. Purloin won a starter allowance going a mile Oct. 8 before finishing second, beaten a neck, by her stablemate Pens Street in this condition on Nov. 20.
In Sunday’s fourth, Pletcher brings the stakes-winning New York-bred Prince Valiant back in an open-company allowance.
Prince Valiant, a 4-year-old son of King for a Day, reeled off three consecutive wins here last winter/spring, capped by a victory in the Times Square division of the New York Stallion Series. Prince Valiant hasn’t been out since he finished third in the Mike Lee Stakes for statebreds on June 4 at Saratoga.
National Identity, another New York-bred moving into open company, looks like to be the main competition to Prince Valiant. National Identity, third to Prince Valiant in the Mike Lee, had tie-back surgery to correct a breathing issue after that race. He has come back with back-to-back allowance wins in the fall. Those two wins have come with National Identity racing on Lasix, an anti-bleeding medication, and with Flavien Prat aboard.
Danny Gargan, who trains National Identity, is concerned that Prince Valiant is the potential lone speed.
“My horse is good right now, but if [Prince Valiant] gets an easy lead he could be tough to catch,” Gargan said.
Protected and Landing Craft could show some early speed.
My Mitole, second in this condition last out, drew nicely on the outside.
Phileas Fogg works
Phileas Fogg worked a relatively fast five furlongs over the Belmont training track Thursday, but trainer Gustavo Rodriguez said he does not intend on racing the 2025 Grade 2 Suburban winner anytime soon.
Phileas Fogg went five furlongs in 1:01.59 under jockey Reylu Gutierrez. While that may not sound like a fast time, consider the next-fastest move at that distance was 1:03.29 as the track was on the heavy side.
“That’s like 59 [seconds] on a normal track,” Rodriguez said. “He worked good, but that’s not what I wanted. I was looking for 1:03, 1:02-and-4, just maintenance.”
Rodriguez said he does not have a race in mind for Phileas Fogg, who is coming out of a fourth-place finish in the Cigar Mile on Dec. 6. Rodriguez said owner Steve Shapiro does not want to ship out of town. The next older dirt male stakes in New York is the one-mile Stymie on Feb. 28. The next two-turn stakes for older males on this circuit is the $150,000 Excelsior at 1 1/4 miles on April 4. Phileas Fogg won that race last year.
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