Mitole gets back to work

ELMONT, N.Y. – Mitole, the multiple Grade 1 winner, breezed a half-mile in 50.13 seconds Friday morning over the Belmont Park training track. It was his first work since he won the Grade 1 Forego at Saratoga on Aug. 24.

The Steve Asmussen-trained Mitole is to make his next start in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita on Nov. 2. He is expected to ship to Southern California on Monday along with stablemate Midnight Bisou, a Breeders’ Cup Distaff contender who was to have had her final prep in Saturday’s Grade 2 Beldame at Belmont.

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Mitole had been at Saratoga all summer before shipping to Belmont on Monday. Assistant Scott Blasi said that Asmussen was looking for an easy half-mile move between 51 and 52 seconds.

Mitole went his opening quarter in 24.48 seconds and his second quarter in 25.65 in hand.

“It looked about as slow as you could make him go,” Blasi said. “It looked like he was in a gallop.”

Mitole is 5 for 6 this year with Grade 1 victories in the Metropolitan Handicap, the Forego and the Churchill Downs. His only loss was a third-place finish to Imperial Hint in the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt.