Metropolitan Mile J

AMERICAN GRADED STAKES PREVIEWS

The question bettors will have to ask themselves when handicapping Monday’s
$600,000 Metropolitan H. (G1) at Belmont Park is which COMMENTATOR (Distorted
Humor) will show up. Will it be the Commentator who produced blowout victories
at Gulfstream over the winter, or the one New Yorkers saw last summer run two
subpar races in open graded company? Price, of course, will dictate how much
slack Commentator is going to receive from the masses, and it’s likely there
will be enough in a forgiving mood to keep his odds fairly low.

Our alternative selection, DIVINE PARK (Chester House), will probably be the
second choice following a dominating five-length triumph in the Westchester H.
(G3), and though he is vulnerable to regress off that peak effort, Divine Park
does have a few things working in his favor. Reverting to rating tactics in the
Westchester, Divine Park benefited from a very quick pace, something he is
likely to see again in the Metropolitan. Divine Park has won five of seven
starts, including both tries at a mile, and had legitimate excuses in his two
losses over the winter. Divine Park finished ninth after breaking from post 14
in the Malibu S. (G1) in his first start back from a layoff of nearly eight
months, and later broke through the gate prior to the start of the General
George H. (G2). He has subsequently won two races, including the Westchester, in
fine fashion, and gets the nod in a not terribly deep renewal of this historic
one-mile fixture.

PREMIUM WINE (Prime Timber) is an interesting horse peaking at the right
time. The Tony Dutrow trainee rallied from midpack to finish third in both the
General George and Carter H. (G1), and the extra furlong he gets to work with
today might be enough to put him in contention for the win. Premium Wine will be
ridden for the first time by the red-hot Kent Desormeaux, who in the last 10
days has scored triumphs in the Preakness S. (G1) and Sheepshead Bay H. (G2).

Commentator possesses a 6-4-0-2 record at Belmont Park and is undefeated
going a mile, but does face better than what he met over the winter at
Gulfstream, where he captured an allowance/optional claimer by 14 lengths in
track record time for a mile and won by nearly the same margin in the
seven-furlong Richter Scale Sprint H. (G2). While no rival in the Met is
consistently as fast from the gate, FIRST DEFENCE (Unbridled’s Song) has plenty
of speed and could prove a nuisance in the early stages, with Divine Park,
GLOBAL HUNTER (Arg) (Jade Hunter) and KISS THE KID (Lemon Drop Kid) not far
behind.

First Defence, runner-up in the seven-furlong King’s Bishop S. (G1) last
August, comes off a hard-fought allowance/optional claiming victory at Churchill
and would need to improve to pull off the minor upset. Global Hunter, third in
his American debut in the April 26 Mervyn LeRoy H. (G2) on Cushion Track, has
been more productive on turf during his career, while Kiss the Kid, a minor
stakes winner, finished third in both the Donn H. (G1) and Gulfstream Park H.
(G2), though neither race can be considered to have had vintage renewals this
year.

LORD SNOWDON (Seeking the Gold), a head second in the General George two
back, could only manage a fourth in the Carter despite a very quick pace up
front. The plodding type figures to be far back early and might leave himself
with too much to do. The three-year-old Z HUMOR (Distorted Humor) and the
veteran COUNCIL MEMBER (Seattle Slew) are the Metropolitan outsiders and neither
has demonstrated the ability to defeat a field of this caliber.