SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Bob Baffert was concerned. On a Saratoga main track that was clearly favoring speed, the Hall of Fame trainer didn’t know what to think when Flavien Prat took Nysos from first to fourth down the backstretch of Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Metropolitan Handicap. “When he took him back I thought ‘I hope he knows what he’s doing,’ “ Baffert said. “He’s either riding a really smart race or he’s not running.”  As it turned out, Prat rode a very smart race, and Nysos did some serious running.  Nysos, on the lead after the break and fourth midway down the backside, was swung wide into the lane by Prat and powered past Knightsbridge and Antiquarian in upper stretch to win the Met Mile by four lengths. On a track producing fast times all day, Nysos ran a mile in 1:34.85, just .13 off the track record of 1:34.72 set by Key Contender in 1992. Nysos returned $4.94 as the favorite.  :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. “Honestly, he’s the whole package,” Prat said. “He’s got speed when you need it, he can switch off and he’s very intelligent. Yeah, I never felt like I had to grab him and get him out of a spot, he naturally just let himself switch off.”  Breaking from the rail out of the Wilson Chute, where mile dirt races are run at Saratoga, Prat said he purposely gunned Nysos to the front. He made the lead through a quarter in 23.52 seconds. Nysos was soon confronted by Antiquarian and Saudi Crown and then Knightsbridge as the half-mile went in 45.61.  Prat, noting that Nysos hadn’t run since February and was carrying topweight of 126 pounds, felt he was not going to be successful if he stayed part of the pace.  “I didn’t think I’d be in a position where I could keep pushing that way,” Prat said. “But as soon as I got behind horses, he just kept his rhythm nicely and at that point I really liked how things were going.”  Prat hit Nysos only once in the stretch and then gave him a vigorous hand ride to the wire as he widened his advantage. Knightsbridge finished second by three-quarters of a length over Journalism. Antiquarian was fourth, followed by Saudi Crown and Rated by Merit. Vibe was pulled up by jockey Luis Saez and vanned off. Todd Pletcher, the trainer of Vibe, indicated the horse was okay.  Nysos, a son of Nyquist, owned by Baoma Corp. and the Coolmore connections of Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith, won for the eighth time in 10 starts. He added the Met Mile to a resume that includes the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and a handful of Grade 2 and Grade 3 stakes. He has now earned more than $5.2 million.  He was coming out of a second-place finish behind Forever Young in the $20 million Saudi Cup on Feb. 14.  “It takes a little bit of the sting out of that Saudi Cup,” said Baffert, who won his second Met Mile in three years and third overall. “What a talented horse. I always thought he’s one of the best older horses in training and today he showed it.”  Baffert also thinks Nysos can be effective going 1 1/4 miles and plans to target the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland on Oct. 31. Baffert indicated he would spread Nysos’ races out and could wait until the $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 22.  The Met Mile is a Win and You're In qualifer for the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. Knightsbridge, who won a trio of graded stakes at one turn at Gulfstream, but finished sixth in the Grade 1 Churchill Downs, rebounded Saturday with a solid second-place finish.  “I would say he was a little more aggressive than normal,” Junior Alvarado said. “He never let me get him settled, had to make a little bit of a premature move, I didn’t want to keep holding him and fighting with him. The winner went by me kind of easy. I thought we were second-best today. I’m just very happy with his effort.”  Journalism, last year’s Preakness winner, rallied from sixth to finish third as he was shortening up from longer distances.  “The mile is probably a little too short for him, I think it was a great try,” jockey Jose Ortiz said. “With the amount of speed there was in the race we were in a good spot. We weren’t good enough.”  Nysos was plenty good, bordering on great.  :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.