Metropolitan Handicap

Race Conditions:          Grade 1, 3YO & up, 8F, Dirt, Belmont Park

Race Class Par:                            111 
Race Class Rating:                       112
Winner's Time/Quality Rating:     112

Pace:                                            Slow Early, Fast Middle, Average Late
Track Bias:                                    Honest

Race Comments:   Long one of the deepest and highest quality Grade 1 races run at Belmont each year, the 2011 Metropolitan Handicap lacked the Grade 1 quality of some of the great editions of the past, but it was still a very deep and talented field of horses.  

Notable Performances:

1. Tizway - Stalked the pace outside Tackleberry, opened up on that rival turning for home, drew off, and finished well.  Finished 2 3/4 lengths ahead of Rodman who was in turn 5 1/2 lengths ahead of a series of solid Grade 2 horses. A very solid Grade 1 performance.

2. Rodman - 2 wide alone off the pace, rallied into contention, ducked to the inside in the stretch and finished very well both time wise and relative to the rest of the closers.  He finished 5 1/2 lengths ahead of a series of solid Grade 2 horses in a much improved Grade 1 level performance.

3. Haynesfield - In the second flight, made a 3 wide bid on the turn as the pace picked up, could not sustain it, and tired.  Doesn't appear to be as sharp as last year, but this effort was better than it looks on the surface. With a softer more controlling pace scenario, he's still threat against very good horses.