Warrior's Charge to face stiffest challenge yet in deep Met Mile

Carrying a consistent record of four wins from nine lifetime starts, graded stakes winner Warrior's Charge will face his most challenging test yet when taking on a field which includes four Grade 1-winners in Saturday's Grade 1, $500,000 Met Mile at Belmont Park.

The Met Mile, open to 3-year-olds and up and offering a berth in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile in November at Keeneland, headlines a card offering five graded stakes on Independence Day. Also featured is the Grade 1, $400,000 Manhattan for 4-year-olds and up going 1 1/4-miles on turf; the Grade 2, $200,000 Suburban, a 10-furlong test for 4-year-olds and upward; the Grade 3, $150,000 Poker, a one-mile turf test for older horses; and the Grade 3, $100,000 Victory Ride, a 6 1/2-furlong sprint for sophomore fillies.

Slated as Race 9 at 5:47 p.m. Eastern on Saturday's 11-race card, which offers a first post of 1:15 p.m., the Met Mile will feature live on NBC from 5 - 6 p.m. Eastern and also on America's Day at the Races on FS1.

Owned by Ten Strike Racing in partnership with Sol Kumin and Madaket Stables, Warrior's Charge notched his first graded stakes win two starts back in the Grade 3 Razorback at Oaklawn before a runner-up finish in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap on May 2.

Piloted by Florent Geroux, the dark bay son of Munnings was urged to the front, controlled the pace through moderate fractions before a top-of-the-stretch confrontation with By My Standards, who drew off to victory. Warrior's Charge finished a half-length to the better of fellow Met Mile aspirant Mr Freeze while recording a career-best 99 Beyer Speed Figure.

Last year, the Brad Cox trainee won at fourth asking following three third-place finishes. The Munnings dark bay colt led at every point of call to a six-length triumph in a 1 1/16-mile Oaklawn Park maiden special weight last March en route to a 6 ½-length first-level allowance victory over the Arkansas oval at the same distance one month later.

Those efforts inspired his connections to try him in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico, where he controlled the pace and finished a hard-fought fourth in his lone off-the-board effort.

On Saturday, Warrior's Charge will be cutting back to one turn for the first time since his second career start and will break from the outside in the eight-horse field.

"I don't mind the outside with him," said Ten Strike Racing stable manager Liz Crow. "I still think we'll be the speed. Florent is so good out of the gate. He's [Warrior's Charge] never won when sitting off another horse, but I don't think he minds doing that."

The long term goal for Warrior's Charge is the Grade 1, $2 million Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile on November 7 at Keeneland.

"I think he's going to have a big year," Crow said. "It's nice to see him have his coming out party this year. The Met Mile came up a bear of a race, so it's going to be tough. There's less options for him as there are just about every horse in American right now. He's so deadly on the front end that it'll be interesting to see what he can do going one turn."

Ten Strike Racing also has graded stakes-winning New York-bred Dot Matrix set to run on Saturday, as he will tackle Grade 1 company for the first time in the $400,000 Manhattan over the inner turf course.

The 7-year-old Freud gelding won the biggest race of his career three starts back in the Grade 3 John B. Connally at Sam Houston over next-out graded stakes winner Bemmas Boy. Boasting the most experience over the Belmont green with a record of 14-3-3-2 over the New York oval, Dot Matrix won last year's Ashley T. Cole over the inner turf defeating Grade 1-winner Voodoo Song by a half-length.

Dot Matrix arrives at the Manhattan off a game runner-up finish in the Tiller. The hard-fought effort made up for a prior start in the Grade 2 Muniz Memorial Classic at Fair Grounds after missing the break and was never a factor finishing a distant 11th to stablemate Factor This.

"He's such a good horse. It was a weird race at Fair Grounds a few starts back where he missed the break," Crow said. "With a little pace up front, he belongs in this group. Brad really thinks that he's a Grade 1 caliber horse going marathon distances, so he's going to have the chance to prove it."

Both Warrior's Charge and Dot Matrix will attempt to give Ten Strike Racing their third stakes triumph of the meet, including Critical Value's win against state breds in Sunday's Bouwerie for trainer Jeremiah Englehart.

Ten Strike Racing owns four broodmares with two of them - Aunt Dot Dot [dam of Dot Matrix] and See the Forest [dam of Critical Value] producing stakes winners this year.

"It's just so cool because they only have four broodmares and two of them produced stakes winners this year," Crow said.