Met Mile field looks deep

ELMONT, N.Y. – It should be worth the wait.

Though traditionalists were upset with the New York Racing Association’s decision to move the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap from Memorial Day to the June 7 Belmont Stakes card, the race is expected to draw a strong – and potentially large – field.

Of the 18 horses nominated to the $1.25 million race – a Win and You’re In for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Santa Anita – 13 are under various levels of consideration. While Palace Malice, the 2013 Belmont Stakes winner, tops the field, there are 10 other graded stakes winners possible.

Alphabetically, those considered definite are Broadway Empire, Capo Bastone, Central Banker, Declan’s Warrior, Goldencents, Moreno, Normandy Invasion, Palace Malice, Romansh, Scarly Charly, and Vyjack. Sahara Sky, last year’s Met Mile winner, and Shakin It Up, the Grade 1 Malibu winner, are both still under consideration.

Al Stall, the trainer of Central Banker, said Tuesday that he is looking forward to another shot at the Met Mile, a race in which he finished fourth in 2009 with My Pal Charlie, who stumbled badly at the break and lost by only 1 1/2 lengths.

“Badly doesn’t begin to describe it,” said Stall, who noted that he couldn’t find his horse for several moments after the break.

In Central Banker, Stall has a horse who, after narrowly missing a few graded stakes victories, broke through with a head win over Shakin It Up in the Grade 2 Churchill Downs on Derby Day. Though Stall said Central Banker ran a really hard race, he feels the horse has moved forward since.

“He’s in serious form,” Stall said. “I know he ran a really hard race at Churchill, and I keep looking to see if he lost anything, but I actually think he’s done better. I don’t see anything that doesn’t look right.”

Central Banker, who will be ridden by Corey Nakatani, worked four furlongs in 48.40 seconds Monday at Churchill Downs.

Memorial Day business slides

The absence of the Met Mile from the card likely was the major reason business was down substantially on Monday’s Memorial Day card when compared with a year ago. Attendance Monday, on a gorgeous afternoon, was 6,946, down 40 percent from last year’s crowd of 11,664.

Ontrack handle on Monday’s 10-race card was $1,837,245, down 31.4 percent from last year’s ontrack handle of $2,678,317. There were 11 races run in 2013.

All-sources handle Monday was $9,913,636, a reduction of $6.278 million, or 38 percent, from last year’s total handle of $16,191,654.

Last year, NYRA brought in food trucks for the Memorial Day weekend programs. Those were not ontrack this weekend.