SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Billed as a showdown between Fierceness and White Abarrio, the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap was won by the interloper Raging Torrent, who cleared the field from his outside post and led every step of the way to win by 2 1/2 lengths at sloppy Saratoga.  Fierceness, the 3-5 favorite, chased Raging Torrent from second all the way around the track, but had to settle for the runner-up spot, 2 1/4 lengths in front of Just a Touch. White Abarrio finished fourth while longshot Castle Chaos was last.  The win was the third straight for Raging Torrent, sixth from his last seven starts and seven from 14 overall. Raging Torrent added the Met Mile to victories in the Grade 1 Malibu at Santa Anita in December and the Group 2 Godolphin Mile in Dubai two months ago. The victory earned Raging Torrent a fees-paid berth into the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar in November.  :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. “He ran against arguably three of the best horses in the country, maybe in the world, and he ran them off their feet,” said winning trainer Doug O’Neill, who included Just a Touch in that group. “When they came to him, he kept going. He’s a once-in-a-lifetime type of horse just a brilliant effort.”  The Met Mile was run over a sloppy track and out of the Wilson Chute, making it a 1 1/2-turn race.  Breaking from the outside in the five-horse field, Frankie Dettori sent Raging Torrent to the lead. Meanwhile, there was some bumping going on inside of him as Castle Chaos bumped with White Abarrio and White Abarrio with Fierceness.  While Raging Torrent made the front, Fierceness, under John Velazquez, and White Abarrio, under Irad Ortiz Jr., were fighting for their position around the clubhouse turn and before the backstretch run. Fierceness got it and was perched outside of Raging Torrent in second while White Abarrio was chasing those two from third.  Raging Torrent kept his advantage through a half-mile in 46.86 seconds but around the turn Fierceness looked like he was drawing on even terms. Turning for home, Raging Torrent had more to give and he slipped away from Fierceness and powered to the line comfortably.  “Middle of the turn, I thought ‘Uh-oh’ [Fierceness] looked like he was kind of leaning on us,” O’Neill said. “But at the same time, Frankie hadn’t called on Raging Torrent yet so I loved seeing that. Raging Torrent has been coming out of his skin since he’s been here. I kept thinking that tells us he’s going to finish strong and he did.”  Raging Torrent, a 4-year-old gelding by Maximus Mischief owned by Craig Dado and Yuesheng Zhang, covered the mile in 1:35.89 (106 Beyer Speed Figure) over the sloppy track and returned $18 as the fourth choice in the five-horse field.  “I was riding like a sprint and I got to the bend first and then it was just manage his speed as much as I could,” Dettori said. “Johnny was wise and he took me on at the three-eighths. …[Raging Torrent] showed great determination to get to the line; wonderful horse.”  Trainer Todd Pletcher said Fierceness broke so sharp that he hit the gate and had some blood in his mouth. Both Pletcher and Velazquez said the first sixteenth of a mile was run a bit rough.   “The first sixteenth of a mile was pretty rough, they were bouncing around trying to get position,” Pletcher said. “After that, he got in the exact position we wanted to, just couldn’t get by the horse on the lead.”  Saffie Joseph Jr., the trainer of White Abarrio expressed frustration with the way Velazquez rode Fierceness, bumping his horse to get that position.  “Johnny had no space, he’s obviously trying to get out of the soup, you can’t ride like that, you can’t ride because you’re in a tight [spot] and you just bump people out of the space,” Joseph said. “[White Abarrio] had his chance after that, but he couldn’t get it done.”  Joseph said White Abarrio had a cut on his right front ankle.  Velazquez said it was the pressure from the outside that created the bumping.  “They came in,” Velazquez said. “I got to get my position. The whole thing in the game is you take your position the best you can. The winner is the one who came over on everybody.”  Raging Torrent is expected to ship back to California on Tuesday and his long-rage goal is the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile with a start or two before then. O’Neill mentioned the Grade 2, $250,000 Pat O’Brien at Del Mar on Aug. 14 as a potential target.  Fierceness, and perhaps White Abarrio, could meet again in the Grade 1 Whitney here on Aug. 2. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.