Wicked Strong sizzles in workout

ELMONT, N.Y. – Wicked Strong lived up to his name in a five-furlong workout Friday that went in 58.82 seconds in preparation for the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park on June 6.

Joel Rosario, who will ride Wicked Strong for the first time in the Met Mile, climbed aboard him for the first time Friday. Wicked Strong, equipped with blinkers that he regularly wears in races, broke off from the half-mile pole, went his first quarter in 23.17 seconds over the main track, hit the wire in 46.87, and then went his last eighth in 11.95 seconds.

He galloped out six furlongs in 1:12.32 while having to split two horses who had finished working in front of him.

“He worked fast, but it was nice to see him do a lot of it on his own,” trainer Jimmy Jerkens said. “He’s been kind of sluggish. Earlier in his career, he worked fast, and the more racing he got by midyear, he got away from that, but he didn’t need to because he was running a lot.”

Wicked Strong has made two starts this year, running fourth in the Gulfstream Park Handicap and third in the Grade 3 Excelsior, the latter at 1 1/4 miles.

Jerkens noted that he wanted a strong work because in the Met Mile, Wicked Strong has “got to run as hard as he can from start to finish.”

Earlier in the morning, Jerkens worked Effinex a mile in 1:41.29, with a final three-eighths in 38.65 seconds. Effinex, who defeated Wicked Strong in the Excelsior, is pointing to the Grade 2, $400,000 Brooklyn Invitational on the Belmont undercard.

“If he went a little faster, I wouldn’t have been upset about it,” Jerkens said. “I was going to work him on the main track and work him kind of fast, but he gets a little upset in the paddock here, and with [a big crowd] on Belmont Day, I don’t think he needed anything fast.”