The Met Mile - Stallion Maker, Myth or Reality

 

The Met Mile – Stallion Maker
Myth or Reality

Joseph Di Rienzi

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.