Fierceness, White Abarrio draw posts 1-2 for Metropolitan Handicap

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Fierceness and White Abarrio will line up side by side for their showdown in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Metropolitan Handicap at Saratoga.

Fierceness, the 2024 Travers winner and 2-year-old champion of 2023, drew the rail in the Met Mile, which drew a field of only five, but four of those horses have combined to win 13 of their last 16 starts.

Fierceness, trained by Todd Pletcher, has won 6 of 10 starts and is a five-time stakes winner - three of which have come in Grade 1s. After finishing a dynamite second to Sierra Leone in the Breeders’ Cup Classic last year, he kicked off his 4-year-old campaign with a win in the Grade 2 Alysheba at Churchill Downs on May 2.

White Abarrio, the 2023 Whitney and Breeders’ Cup Classic winner, drew post 2. He has won three of his last four starts - all since returning to trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. - including the Grade 1 Pegasus Invitational and, most recently, the Grade 3 Ghostzapper. Overall, White Abarrio is 10 for 21 with six stakes wins, four coming in Grade 1s.

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White Abarrio is the 126-pound highweight, carrying one more pound than Fierceness.

Raging Torrent has won five of his last six starts, including the Grade 1 Malibu at Santa Anita in December and the Grade 2 Godolphin Mile at Meydan in Dubai in April. He drew post 5.

Just a Touch, a winner of two straight allowance races, drew post 4 while Castle Chaos, fourth in the Met Mile last year, drew post 3 after being supplemented to this year’s field for a fee of $7,500. Castle Chaos is entered in an allowance race on Friday, but will scratch from that race, according to trainer Robert Falcone Jr.

The Met Mile will go as race 8 on the 14-race card topped by the $2 million Belmont Stakes. The post positions for the Belmont, which will have eight horses led by Kentucky Derby one-two-three finishers Sovereignty, Journalism and Baeza, will be drawn Monday evening.

Here’s a look at the fields for the other six stakes on Saturday’s card, which begins at 10:45 a.m.

Grade 1, $1 million Manhattan: Far Bridge and Spirit of St Louis, who have combined to win 19 of 32 starts including four Grade 1 stakes, meet for the first time in this 1 3/16-mile turf stakes.

Far Bridge, winner of the Grade 1 Sword Dancer here last year and the Grade 2 Man o’ War at Aqueduct last month, drew post 9. Spirit of St Louis, who won the Pegasus World Cup Turf and the Churchill Downs Turf Classic from three starts this year, will break from post 6 for trainer Chad Brown.

Far Bridge is one of three horses entered in this race by trainer Miguel Clement. Deterministic and Carson’s Run, one-two in the Fort Marcy at Aqueduct, are the others. Carson’s Run and Deterministic ran one-three in last year’s Saratoga Derby here. Integration, second to Spirit of St Louis in the Pegasus, and Highway Robber, third to Spirit of St Louis in the Turf Classic, and Endlessly, a four-time stakes winner, are other contenders in the field.

Grade 1, $500,000 Woody Stephens: The fleet-footed Citizen Bull, last year’s 2-year-old champion after recording two Grade 1 wins, and the late-running Chancer McPatrick, an Eclipse Award finalist for his two Grade 1 victories, are part of an 11-horse field of 3-year-olds going seven furlongs.

Citizen Bull is cutting back from a 15th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby, in which he set the pace. Chancer McPatrick is cutting back to the distance of his Grade 1 Hopeful win here last summer after finishing in a dead heat for sixth in the Blue Grass.

The Stephens field numbers 11 and includes Lafayette Stakes winner Colloquial, Grade 2 Pat Day Mile winner Macho Music and Pat Day runner-up Madaket Road and recent allowance winners Patch Adams and Gunmetal.

Grade 1, $500,000 Jaipur: Think Big looks for his fourth straight win, first in a Grade 1, when he heads this 10-horse field scheduled to run 5 1/2 furlongs on the turf. Think Big has won the Grade 2 Shakertown at Keeneland and Grade 2 Turf Sprint at Churchill, each with triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures for trainer Michael Stidham.

The speedy mare Ag Bullet will take on the boys again like she did when finishing third, beaten a neck, in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint last November at Del Mar. Arzak, second in last year’s Jaipur, as well as My Boy Prince, Bold Journey and Alogon, the top three finishers from the Elusive Quality at Aqueduct, are in this group.

Grade 3, $400,000 True North: Crazy Mason will look to unleash his crazy-good late kick and try to win a fourth consecutive race in this 6 1/2-furlong race for older sprinters that drew a field of eight.

Crazy Mason has rallied from last in each of his last three wins, including a neck victory over Quint’s Brew in the Grade 1 Carter at Aqueduct on April 5.

The True North field includes four horses who are Grade 1 winners at Saratoga: Mullikin (2024 Forego), Book’em Danno (2024 Woody Stephens), Nakatomi (2024 Alfred G. Vanderbilt) and Nutella Fella (Grade 1 Hopeful).

Grade 2, $300,000 Wonder Again: Nitrogen will seek her fifth consecutive stakes win of the year - at a fifth different track - when she heads a field of eight 3-year-old fillies in this 1 1/16-mile turf race for 3-year-old fillies.

Nitrogen, trained by Mark Casse, has won the Ginger Brew at Gulfstream, Grade 3 Florida Oaks at Tampa, the Grade 2 Appalachian at Keeneland and Grade 2 Edgewood at Churchill.

The last time Nitrogen lost was when she finished third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf won by Lake Victoria. May Day Ready finished second in that race and will make her 3-year-old debut in this spot. May Day Ready last ran in Japan, where she finished 13th in the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies at Kyoto.

Trainer Chad Brown has entered three including Al Jafara, Opulent Restraint and Virgin Colada. Trainer Graham Motion entered the undefeated Laurelin. Love You Anyway, a recent maiden winner, completes the field.

Grade 3, $300,000 Pennine Ridge: Zulu Kingdom, winner of five of six starts including the Grade 1 American Turf at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day, figures a strong favorite against nine rivals in this 1 1/16-mile turf race for 3-year-old males. Only Mi Bago, a three-time stakes winner, Flying Mohawk, a two-time winner on turf who finished 18th in the Kentucky Derby, and Tom’s Magic have done more than win their maiden.

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