Pavel joins loaded field for Met Mile

ELMONT, N.Y. – Pavel, fourth to Thunder Snow in each of the last two runnings of the Dubai World Cup, will make his next start in the Grade 1, $1.2 million Metropolitan Handicap on June 8, trainer Doug O’Neill said Monday.

Pavel, who won the Grade 1 Stephen Foster in his second start after running fourth in the 2018 Dubai World Cup, is the sixth Grade 1 winner to commit to the race, joining Thunder Snow, McKinzie, Mitole, Promises Fulfilled, and Firenze Fire. Coal Front, winner of the Grade 2 Godolphin Mile, is also confirmed to run.

Pavel will be shortening up to a one-turn race for the first time since he finished fourth to City of Light in the Grade 1 Malibu in December 2017. Pavel won a 6 1/2-furlong maiden race in his career debut at Santa Anita earlier that year.

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“We’re excited. I think that’s a perfect distance for him,” O’Neill said Monday from California.

Of the Dubai World Cup performance, O’Neill said, “I thought he ran dynamite. He got beat less than four lengths by some of the best horses in the world.”

O’Neill said Mario Gutierrez will be reunited with Pavel in the Met Mile. Joel Rosario rode him in the Dubai World Cup.

O’Neill said he also planned to ship Mopotism to New York for the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps.

McKinzie worked six furlongs in 1:11.80 on Monday at Santa Anita.