Metropolitan Mile runners regroup

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The trainers of the third- and sixth-place finishers in the Met Mile, Limousine Liberal and McCraken, both said they’re mulling their horse’s next start. Each horse has returned to his Kentucky base.

Trainer Ben Colebrook said from Keeneland that he will probably look at the seven-furlong Belmont Sprint on July 7 for Limousine Liberal.

“He ran a big race and it looks like he’ll stay the mile,” Colebrook said.

McCraken, who returned to training this week at Churchill, was wide turning into the stretch and had to be steadied at the sixteenth pole in the Met Mile.

“He had a little trouble and maybe could’ve finished as high as third with some luck,” trainer Ian Wilkes said. “I need to start looking to pin down his next spot. I want to stay in a rhythm with him because everything’s about getting him back here in top shape” for the Nov. 3 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Churchill.

Meanwhile, Bolt d’Oro, who finished last of 11 in the Met Mile as the lone 3-year-old starter, is getting 60 days off at trainer Mick Ruis’s farm west of Lexington, Ky, the colt’s connections said Thursday via Twitter.