The Met Mile – Stallion Maker
Myth or Reality
Joseph Di Rienzi
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| Flightline winning the 2022 Met Mile (bloodhorse.com) |
The Metropolitan Handicap, known more familiarly as the Met Mile, run since
2014 on Belmont Stakes Day, has acquired a special status in North American
thoroughbred racing as a “stallion maker” race. The group thinking being that
if a mature horse can win a top class race at a mile, he has demonstrated the
speed and sufficient stamina to pass those abilities to future progeny. Indeed,
the current Phenom Du Jour Flightline’s connections had plotted this race as
the coming out party for their four-year-old since last December. The question
this piece will examine is whether the Met Mile continues to deserve that
appellation.
The Metropolitan Handicap has had a long and storied history
in New York racing. First run in 1897, it has been contested at 1 mile since
1894. It list of winners include such greats as Equipoise, Gallorette, Stymie,
Tom Fool, Native Dancer, Gallant Man, Kelso, Buckpasser and Forego. I will look
at the recent victors since 2001 who have at least full three crops of progeny
and give a short summary of their stallion careers to assess whether they have
been successful sires.
The following chart shows Metropolitan Handicap victors from
2001 - 2015. (I have excluded winners beyond 2015 in that they would have at
most only progeny that have raced to their four-year-old season which I deem is
too soon to judge their stud career.)
Metropolitan Handicap
Victors (2001 – 2015)
Year Horse Owner Trainer
2001 Exciting
Story Harry T.
Mangurian Jr. Mark
Casse
2002 Swept
Overboard J. Paul Reddam Craig Dollase
2003 Aldebaran Flaxman Holdings Robert J. Frankel
2004 Pico
Central Gary A. Tanka Paulo Lobo
2005 Ghostzapper Stronach Stables Robert J. Frankel
2006 Silver
Train Buckram
Farm Richard
E. Dutrow
2007 Corinthian
Centennial Farms
James A.
Jerkens
2008 Divine
Park James J.
Barry Kiran
McLaughlin
2009 Bribon
(g) Marc Keller Rob
Ribaudo
2010 Quality
Road Edward P. Evans Todd Pletcher
2011 Tizway William
Clifton Jr. H.
James Bond
2012 Shackleford Lauffer and Cubbedge Dale
Romans
2013 Sahara
Sky Goldmark Farm
Jerry
Hollendorfer
2014 Palace
Malice Dogwood Stable Todd Pletcher
2015 Honor
Code Lane’s End
Racing Shug
McCaughey
A quick purview of the above list recognizes Quality Road
and Ghostzapper as prominent stallions, but one would be hard pressed to cite
the others as successes at stud. (Note, Bribon, the 2009 winner, a gelding, did
not, of course, breed on.)
Ghostzapper, a National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
inductee, was an outstanding racehorse as a four-year-old winning among others
the Woodward Stakes and Breeders’ Cup Classic. His Metropolitan Mile victory in
2005 was his only start as a five-year-old before an injury necessitated his
retirement. At stud, he has been a consistently good sire with major stakes
winners such as Mystic Guide (Dubai World Cup, etc.), Judy the Beauty (Breeders’
Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, etc.), Contested (Acorn, Test Stakes, etc.), Guarana
(Acorn Stakes, Coaching Club American Oaks and Madison Stakes), Paulassilverlining
(Humana Distaff Stakes, etc.), Shaman Ghost (Queen’s Plate Stakes, Santa Anita
Handicap, Woodward Stakes, etc.) and Fearless (Brooklyn Stakes, etc.).
Quality Road, a major performer at age three and four, won
such races as the Florida Derby, Donn Handicap, Woodward Stakes as well as the
Met Mile. By all measures he has been an elite sire. His progeny include
champions Abel Tasman, Caledonia Road and Corniche. He has sired to date four
Breeders’ Cup races winners: Hootenanny (Juvenile Filly Turf), Caledonia Road
(Juvenile Filly), City of Light (Dirt Mile) and Corniche (Juvenile).
From the others on the table of recent Met Mile winners, it
is difficult to make the case for them as successful stallions. The 2003 winner
Aldebaran had seemingly all the credentials at stud. Owned and bred by Flaxman
Holdings, the son of Mr. Prospector came from a long female line of Niarchos
family stalwarts. Not only a Met Mile winner in 2003, Aldebaran finished second
in the 2002 edition. In a career that
spanned four years, he finished no worse than second in 20 of his 25 starts,
often times in top races from 7 to 8 furlongs.
As the result of wins in the Met Mile, Carter, Forego and Tom Fool
Handicaps, Aldebaran was voted the Eclipse Award for Champion Sprinter in 2003.
Retired initially to Darby Dan Farm in Kentucky in 2004, he
was sold and exported to Japan in 2008. His only prominent Western progeny was
Main Sequence who after finishing second in the English Derby in 2012 became
the Champion Older Male Horse in the U. S. with a four race string of major
victories on turf in 2014.
Shackleford has had some middling success at stud. A rugged
campaigner who competed in all the Triple Crown races of 2011 which included a
victory in the Preakness Stakes, the son of Forestry went to stud at Darby Dan
Farm in 2015 boasting good looks, a fine pedigree and multiple major victories
with total earnings over $3 million. His most significant runners are stakes
winners Promises Fulfilled, Malagacy and the currently raced Stilleto Boy.
Because of dwindling interest in Shackelford he was sold to South Korean
interests in 2020.
Two of the most disappointing horses from the list are Corinthian
and Honor Code. They both sported great pedigrees and performances that
extended beyond winning the Met Mile. The former a flashing chestnut son of
sire of sires Pulpit was initially retired to stud at Gainesway Farm in
Kentucky in 2008. Not having initial success with his progeny, Corinthian was
moved to Pin Oak Stud Pennsylvania in 2013. Four years later he was exported to
Turkey.
Honor Code, Champion Male Older Horse in 2015, is currently
still at stud in the U. S., but I fear his future in this country is precarious.
Possessed of gorgeous looks, a powerful physique and a pedigree of the highest
caliber, he was seen as a natural successor to his illustrious sire A. P. Indy.
Standing at Lane’s End Farm he has had three major stakes winners: Honor A. P.
(Santa Anita Derby), Maracuja (Coaching Coach American Oaks) and Max Player
(Suburban and Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes). However, the fact they his progeny
have not shown the precocity favored by North American breeders has led to
Honor Code having declining recent foal crops (29 in 2021), usually the death toll
for a stallion.
Of the others on the list, there would be an odd runner
sired such as champion Lady Eli by Divine Park, or Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf
victor Structor by Palace Malice, but for the most part they have been failures
at stud.
Two major stallions (Ghostzapper and Quality Road) out of
the 15 listed constitute a meager 13.3 % of stallion success which hardly validates
the Metropolitan Handicap as a “stallion maker”. As always, the proof of a
stallion is in his progeny. The notoriety gained by winning the Met Mile may
have provided these victors with the opportunity to be stallions, but their
worth needed to be tested on the racetrack. We can only hope this year’s victor
Flightline will prove to be to be an exception.
