McKinzie Favored in Blockbuster Met Mile Showdown

Ron Lombardi is experiencing a familiar feeling.

A year after Firenze Fire became the owner's first Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) starter, a Triple Crown race is days away and it's déjà vu time for the head of Mr. Amore Stable.

"I'm excited," he said about Firenze Fire's impending start. "There's a little bit of Derby fever in me getting ready for it."

Only this time, it's not a Triple Crown race that has captured Lombardi's fascination.

It's the next best thing.

It might even be the race of the year.

Firenze Fire will bring a perfect record at Belmont Park into the June 8 blockbuster $1.2 million Runhappy Metropolitan Handicap (G1), a race so overflowing in talent that a two-time winner of the Dubai World Cup Sponsored by Emirates Airline (G1) is listed as the 5-1 fourth choice.

"It's pretty amazing to get all these horses together," Lombardi said.

The homebred Firenze Fire is the 4-1 third choice in a field of nine that features six grade 1 winners and mind-boggling combined lifetime earnings of more than $25 million.

"It's exciting any time you get horses together like this," echoed two-time Triple Crown winner Bob Baffert, who trains McKinzie. "It's a great race. A lot of them in the field worry me."

Conversely, others in the field are quite worried about McKinzie, the 5-2 morning-line favorite and 124-pound co-highweight. 

With six wins and three seconds in 10 starts, McKinzie is coming off a sharp 4 3/4-length victory in the Alysheba Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs May 3. The Alysheba was contested at 1 1/16 miles around two turns, the type of trip the multiple grade 1 winner has faced in eight of his starts entering Saturday's imposing one-turn assignment.

Yet McKinzie is 2-for-2 in one-turn sprints for owners Karl Watson, Mike Pegram and Paul Weitman, topped by a 4 3/4-length score in the seven-furlong Malibu Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita Park in December.

"He's training well," Baffert said. "The trip will be the big thing for him. (Jockey) Mike Smith thinks he has him figured out. We'll see."

Baffert, who will spend Saturday in California to celebrate the graduation of his son, Bode, was not thrilled with landing post 2, marking the third straight time the son of Street Sense  has landed either post 1 or 2.

"I wasn't happy with the draw. He's had a lot of bad luck with the draws, either the 1 post or the 2. He always seems to draw bad," said Baffert, who won the 2017 Met Mile with Mor Spirit . "But he's there and there's no turning back. I was hoping for an outside draw so he can get rolling. Mike said he'll like those big sweeping turns."

McKinzie, who was purchased for $170,000 at the 2016 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, has contributed $1,483,560 to the field's gross earnings. Bred in Kentucky by Summer Wind Farm, he was purchased for $170,000 at the 2016 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

The bulk of the $25 million belongs to Godolphin's Thunder Snow, a two-time Dubai World Cup winner. He has contributed $16,391,476 to the kitty and is just $1,031,124 behind the all-time earnings record of Arrogate , who was trained by Baffert.

Bred by Darley, the son of Helmet made it back-to-back wins in the Dubai World Cup in his most recent start, winning by a nose over Gronkowski.

The 124-pound co-highweight with McKinzie, Thunder Snow is a bit less familiar with the one-turn distance than Baffert's runner. His last seven races have been at 1 1/4 miles or more.

"This is a good place to start for him," said trainer Saeed bin Suroor. "He is ready to run. He will have an American campaign, and we want to get him started. The Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) is the goal again this year."

Thunder Snow was second in last year's Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) at Belmont Park and third in the Breeders' Cup Classic during his 2018 season.

While Thunder Snow, a 5-year-old, raced successful at a mile earlier in his career, the eight furlongs is uncharted territory for the fleet Mitole.

Owned by William and Corinne Heiligbrodt and trained by Steve Asmussen, Mitole is a brilliant sprinter. The son of Eskendereya has six straight wins by a combined margin of nearly 33 lengths, but his latest start, a 3 1/2-length score in the seven-furlong Churchill Downs Stakes Presented by Twinspires.com (G1), marked the frontrunning 4-year-old's first race longer than six furlongs.

Purchased for $140,000 at the 2017 Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training from the Grassroots Training and Sales consignment, the 3-1 second choice will carry 122 pounds. He originally was bought for $20,000 by Chestnut Valley Farm from the Eaton Sales consignment at the 2016 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

Firenze Fire's 3-for-3 record at Belmont Park for trainer Jason Servis includes two wins at a flat mile, a victory in the 2017 Champagne Stakes (G1) and an ultraimpressive nine-length victory in the Dwyer Stakes (G3) last year, clobbering Europe's Mendelssohn .

Most recently, the 4-1 morning-line proposition prevailed in the six-furlong Runhappy Stakes at Belmont Park May 11. The 4-year-old son of Poseidon's Warrior  will carry 119 pounds.

A common thread in all three victories was the presence of jockey Irad Ortiz Jr.

"He loves Belmont. I got the best jockey and an unbelievable trainer, so I'm feeling really good about it," Lombardi said. "His times are great at Belmont. It looks like we'll have a nice, fast track. The weather will be good, and that's what he loves. He and Irad fit like a glove. It's all system go. It's best we can hope for."

As dangerous as Mitole's speed can be, the presence of Robert Baron's speedy grade 1 winner Promises Fulfilled (12-1) figures to keep him busy in a pace scenario that may also include Coal Front from the rail.

"It looks like some speed out there," Lombardi said. "Hopefully, there will be a bit of a duel for the lead because nobody is better at coming down that stretch than Firenze Fire. He kicks into another gear. It's a beautiful thing."

Coal Front, owned by Robert LaPenta and Sol Kumin's Head of Plains Partners, joined Thunder Snow as a winner on the March 30 Dubai World Cup card at Meydan. The 5-year-old ridgling trained by Todd Pletcher rallied in a timely fashion in the final furlong to prevail by three-quarters of a length to take the $1.5 million Godolphin Mile Sponsored by Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum City—District One (G2) and earn a spot among the heavy hitters in the Met Mile.

Listed at 6-1 in the morning line, making the group 2 winner the fifth choice, the son of Stay Thirsty  will tote 122 pounds.

"Coal Front is doing super. He's training great. He seemed to handle the trip to Dubai as good as you could hope for. All indicators are that he's in good form," Pletcher said. "You never know how they handle the trip, but he seemed to have handled it fantastically."

LaPenta bought Coal Front for $575,000 from the Kirkwood Stables offerings at the 2016 OBS April sale.

Some might view the race-of-the-year tag as hyperbole, yet with all nine starters being graded or group stakes winners, that tag might have more to do with fact than opinion.

"On paper, it's a dynamite race. It's a super-tough race," Pletcher said. "It's what you expect in the Met Mile."

The Met Mile, which offers a "Win and You're In" spot in the Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) to the winner, will be contested as the ninth race on a 13-race card with eight grade 1 stakes. Post time is scheduled for approximately 4:46 p.m. ET, and it will be aired live on NBC.