Pletcher saddles Rally Cry, Tommy Macho in Met Mile

Two races before he sends out Patch and Tapwrit in the Belmont Stakes, trainer Todd Pletcher will saddle the Paul Pompa Jr.-owned pair of Rally Cry and Tommy Macho in Saturday's Grade 1, $1.2 million Mohegan Sun Metropolitan Handicap.

Rally Cry, by Uncle Mo, ran on the Belmont undercard last year when he finished third after taking a half-length lead into the stretch of the 1 1/16-mile Easy Goer. He didn't race again until March 15 at Gulfstream Park, returning to run second by less than a length in a second-level allowance going the Met Mile distance.

On April 30 at Belmont, Rally Cry returned to the winner's circle with a 1 ½-length triumph as the favorite in a 1 1/16-mile allowance. A $250,000 purchase as a 2-year-old in training, he has only been worse than third once in eight career starts when sixth in the Grade 3 Gotham last March.

"He ran in the Easy Goer last year and he just seemed a little tired from that effort and wasn't moving quite as well so we elected to back off and give him some time and he seemed to respond very well to that," Pletcher said. "He's a horse that we've had high hopes for all along. He's a very impressive horse to watch train and we feel like he's starting to put it all together now.

"His last race seemed to be kind of that breakthrough performance in terms of how fast he ran and everything. We're optimistic. He continues to train very well," he added. "This is a big jump in class but based on what we've seen in some of his performances and a lot of his morning training, we feel like he has that type of potential."

Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez is named on Rally Cry from post 2 of 12 in the Met Mile.

Luis Saez will break from post 11 aboard 5-year-old Tommy Macho, a multiple graded stakes winner coming off a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Carter Handicap April 8 at Aqueduct after encountering trouble near the eighth pole of the seven-furlong sprint.

Tommy Macho owns two wins and two thirds from five career tries at one mile, including wins in the Grade 3 Hal's Hope January 14 and Grade 3 Fred Hooper last winter at Gulfstream Park.

"You hate to make an excuse after a race but I felt like he probably ran a winning effort and just got into some traffic late that compromised his chances a bit," Pletcher said. "He seems to be a versatile horse and he seems to be good at a one-turn mile so we've been targeting this since the Carter. He seems like he's maintained form based on the way he's training so we're hoping he can come back with another big effort."