Met Mile Day Recap + Son of Tapit Dominates Suburban

On Met Mile Day, we watched Vekoma take the Met Mile at Belmont, where he won impressively, leading throughout the race and pulling away late past Chad Brown's Network Effect, and last years Travers winner, Code of Honor. McKinzie, the favorite of the Met Mile, had a dissapointing result, finishing 5th and never finding an angle to close in on the speed in the race. George Weaver is pointing Vekoma towards the Forego (G1) at Saratoga this summer. 

 In the Manhattan, Chad Brown managed to pull out the exacta, with Instilled Regard firing late to pull away from Rockemperor. Sadler's Joy, who had trailed throughout the race closed late for third. Channel Maker, who stalked the pace throughout came 4th, after multiple disappointing previous races. Instilled Regard could target races such as the Bowling Green (G2) and then the Sword Dancer (G1) in prep for the Breeders Cup, or he could keep Instilled Regard running at the 1 1/4 distance. 

In the last race of the day, Tacitus had a dominant win in the Suburban (G2), where he beat competitors such as Mr. Buff and Sir Winston, who had won the Belmont Stakes last year, beating Tacitus by a legnth. Today, Sir Winston trailed throughout and made no effort to close, losing by over 20 lengths. Mr. Buff stalked the pace before fading, while Tacitus exploded towards the lead. Moretti finished second, and Parsimony finished third. Tacitus had struggled in recent races, finishing 5th in the Saudi Cup and 4th in the Oaklawn Handicap. This was his first win since winning the Wood Memorial in 2019. After that, he had setbacks in the Jim Dandy, Belmont, and Travers, but today he showed how talented of a horse he can be.