Sharp Azteca, Mor Spirit probable Met Mile favorites
ELMONT, N.Y. – The defection of Connect due to injury from the Grade 1, $1.2 million Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park on Saturday leaves the one-turn-mile race seemingly so wide open that even identifying the favorite could be difficult.
A field of 12 is expected to be entered Wednesday in the Met Mile.
Sharp Azteca, the winner of the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Handicap in February, and Mor Spirit, the winner of the Grade 3 Steve Sexton Mile on May 7, could vie for favoritism, but both will have questions to answer.
Sharp Azteca, trained by Jorge Navarro, has not run since finishing third in the Godolphin Mile in Dubai on March 25. He had his fourth and final workout for the Met Mile last Saturday, going five furlongs in 1:00.40 at Monmouth Park. Navarro had previously mentioned shipping Sharp Azteca to New York early to get a workout over the Belmont main track, but an iffy weather forecast prompted him to leave the horse at Monmouth until Wednesday.
“The track at Monmouth had been lightning-fast the first couple of weeks, but it’s a pretty deep track right now,” Navarro said. “I think I got enough out of it.”
Paco Lopez has been working the horse for Navarro and on Saturday will replace Edgard Zayas, who had ridden Sharp Azteca in 10 of 11 races.
On Sunday at Santa Anita, Mor Spirit worked four furlongs in 46.60 seconds. Mor Spirit and Denman’s Call are the only Grade 1 winners expected to be entered in the Met Mile.
Trainer Bob Baffert said his one concern with Mor Spirit is the one-turn-mile configuration of the race. He recalled running Cupid in last year’s Easy Goer Stakes, a one-turn, 1 1/16-mile race at Belmont, after having prior success with him in two-turn races. Cupid finished last of five as the 4-5 favorite.
“He got lost,” Baffert said. “Some horses, they run away from you there, and your horse loses focus. You don’t know how they’re going to react going one turn.”
The field for the Met Mile, with expected riders: Awesome Slew (Joel Rosario), Denman’s Call (Tyler Baze), Economic Model (Irad Ortiz Jr.), Inside Straight (Angel Arroyo), Mohaymen (Jose Ortiz), Mor Sprit (Mike Smith), Rally Cry (John Velazquez), Sharp Azteca (Lopez), Solid Wager (Victor Espinoza), Tom’s Ready (Javier Castellano), Tommy Macho (Luis Saez), and Virtual Machine (Manny Franco).
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