The Met Mile is Coming Up Huge

American Pharoah going for the Triple Crown by way of the Belmont Stakes is cool and all, but let’s get real -- it will not even be the best race on a crazy good racing card slated for June 6 at Belmont Park. That’s right, I said it. Top to bottom quality, the 2015 Met Mile blows the third leg of America’s Triple Crown away, and it ain’t even close.

Tonalist won the Belmont and the Jockey Club Gold Cup over this very track last year, and came back recently looking like the genuine article. Palace Malice is the defending champ, and while he lost his comeback race, I expect a different horse after getting in that six furlong prep. And lest we forget, he is also the 2013 Belmont Stakes winner. Getting the last two Belmont winners to face off on Belmont Day this year is classic.

Speaking of classic, how about the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner, Bayern? Draw a line through his debacle at Churchill, and instead think about how he looked on Belmont Day last year. Wicked Strong has not won a ton, but we all know the Wood Memorial and Jim Dandy winner is full of class. Maybe not as full as class as Private Zone, though. Last time he ran a flat mile in New York, he turned in a thing of beauty in the Cigar Mile. And if that speedy son of a gun is part of a fast early pace, it could well set things up for the stone cold closing pair of the talented Honor Code, and the 2013 Met Mile winner, Sahara Sky.

Race Day is another from the powerful New York barn of Todd Pletcher, and he looked terrific in dominating a pair of stakes at Oaklawn Park. And if you are into the whole international flavor thing, both Tamarkuz and Sloane Avenue, the 1-2 finishers in the rich Godolphin Mile, are respectively no joke. Do I have your attention yet? This Grade 1, $1.25 Million field is not yet set in stone, but with ten probables like these, you can see why the Met Mile will be can’t miss racing.

So while the world watches to see if American Pharoah can do something that no horse has been able to complete in nearly four decades, we, the hardcore racing fans, can smile and nod to the few days a year fan, but deep down, we know that the Met Mile is the best race of the day.