Metropolitan Mile J

AMERICAN GRADED STAKES PREVIEWS

The question bettors will have to ask themselves when handicapping Monday's

$600,000 Metropolitan H. (G1) at Belmont Park is which COMMENTATOR (Distorted

Humor) will show up. Will it be the Commentator who produced blowout victories

at Gulfstream over the winter, or the one New Yorkers saw last summer run two

subpar races in open graded company? Price, of course, will dictate how much

slack Commentator is going to receive from the masses, and it's likely there

will be enough in a forgiving mood to keep his odds fairly low.

Our alternative selection, DIVINE PARK (Chester House), will probably be the

second choice following a dominating five-length triumph in the Westchester H.

(G3), and though he is vulnerable to regress off that peak effort, Divine Park

does have a few things working in his favor. Reverting to rating tactics in the

Westchester, Divine Park benefited from a very quick pace, something he is

likely to see again in the Metropolitan. Divine Park has won five of seven

starts, including both tries at a mile, and had legitimate excuses in his two

losses over the winter. Divine Park finished ninth after breaking from post 14

in the Malibu S. (G1) in his first start back from a layoff of nearly eight

months, and later broke through the gate prior to the start of the General

George H. (G2). He has subsequently won two races, including the Westchester, in

fine fashion, and gets the nod in a not terribly deep renewal of this historic

one-mile fixture.

PREMIUM WINE (Prime Timber) is an interesting horse peaking at the right

time. The Tony Dutrow trainee rallied from midpack to finish third in both the

General George and Carter H. (G1), and the extra furlong he gets to work with

today might be enough to put him in contention for the win. Premium Wine will be

ridden for the first time by the red-hot Kent Desormeaux, who in the last 10

days has scored triumphs in the Preakness S. (G1) and Sheepshead Bay H. (G2).

Commentator possesses a 6-4-0-2 record at Belmont Park and is undefeated

going a mile, but does face better than what he met over the winter at

Gulfstream, where he captured an allowance/optional claimer by 14 lengths in

track record time for a mile and won by nearly the same margin in the

seven-furlong Richter Scale Sprint H. (G2). While no rival in the Met is

consistently as fast from the gate, FIRST DEFENCE (Unbridled's Song) has plenty

of speed and could prove a nuisance in the early stages, with Divine Park,

GLOBAL HUNTER (Arg) (Jade Hunter) and KISS THE KID (Lemon Drop Kid) not far

behind.

First Defence, runner-up in the seven-furlong King's Bishop S. (G1) last

August, comes off a hard-fought allowance/optional claiming victory at Churchill

and would need to improve to pull off the minor upset. Global Hunter, third in

his American debut in the April 26 Mervyn LeRoy H. (G2) on Cushion Track, has

been more productive on turf during his career, while Kiss the Kid, a minor

stakes winner, finished third in both the Donn H. (G1) and Gulfstream Park H.

(G2), though neither race can be considered to have had vintage renewals this

year.

LORD SNOWDON (Seeking the Gold), a head second in the General George two

back, could only manage a fourth in the Carter despite a very quick pace up

front. The plodding type figures to be far back early and might leave himself

with too much to do. The three-year-old Z HUMOR (Distorted Humor) and the

veteran COUNCIL MEMBER (Seattle Slew) are the Metropolitan outsiders and neither

has demonstrated the ability to defeat a field of this caliber.