Wilkes sets Grade 1 goals for Met Mile contender McCraken

Churchill Downs-based McCraken, who lost last summer's Grade 1 Haskell by a nose, will pursue gaining that Grade 1 victory in the $1.2 million Runhappy Metropolitan Handicap on Belmont Stakes Day, June 9.

McCraken, a 4-year-old by Ghostzapper, won his first four starts before finishing third in the 2017 Grade 2 Blue Grass and eighth in that year's Kentucky Derby. He rebounded to take the Grade 3 Matt Winn at Churchill, followed by the nose defeat in the Haskell to Girvin. He followed with a seventh-place finish in the Grade 1 Travers at Saratoga Race Course. 

McCraken got time off after finishing third against older horses in the Grade 2 Hagyard Fayette, returning to racing six months later to capture an allowance race on Kentucky Derby Day last out on May 5.

"The Met Mile is such a prestigious race, it would be nice for this horse's resume if I can get that accomplished," said trainer Ian Wilkes. "The horse is doing great. He's done nothing but go forward since that race, so I'm very happy with him. The break was a little longer than I planned, but that was the horse. He wanted it. He told me how much time he needed and now we're back to business and he's doing extremely well.

"This is more for the horse. We just got beat in the Haskell, and that was a Grade 1. If we can come back in this and do well, it gives him a Grade 1 and then we can work on trying to pick out a few more Grade 1s for him."

Wilkes said McCraken's forte appears to be a mile, and he'll be pointed toward the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Churchill Downs in November. "The horse can run a mile and an eighth, too," he said. "But I think I might just concentrate on a mile. The horse has a great turn-of-foot. That's the key to it."

Wilkes said he also plans to run Nessy in the Grade 2, $400,000 Belmont Gold Cup contested at two miles on the turf on June 8, while Giant Payday is a possibility for the Grade 2, $400,000 Brooklyn Invitational at 1 1/2 miles on dirt on June 9.

"Nessy's really gotten into a nice niche, a nice rhythm," Wilkes said. "And he's developing. The farther they go, the better he gets. Giant Payday, this is a new dimension for him, so we'll have to see if he likes it, a mile and a half on dirt. As long as he relaxes early and doesn't get too rank, we'll be fine."