Elmont, NY (Sports Network) – Discreet Dancer and Cross Traffic will represent the stable of trainer Todd Pletcher in Monday’s $750,000 Metropolitan Handicap (Met Mile) at Belmont Park.<\/p>\n
Both 4-year-olds, who each had half-mile workouts Tuesday, are coming off close losses in their most recent starts, each as the favorite.<\/p>\n
Owned by E. Paul Robsham Stables, Discreet Dancer was third in the Carter Handicap at Aqueduct on April 6, beaten 1 3\/4 lengths by Swagger Jack.<\/p>\n
“The Carter came up a very fast race,” said Pletcher. “He won the mile race at Gulfstream, and we think the mile suits him well. He’s coming up to it in good order, so we’re excited about his chances as well.”<\/p>\n
Discreet Dancer, who worked four-furlongs in 48.90 seconds Tuesday morning at Belmont, won the Gulfstream Park Handicap by 5 1\/4 lengths over Swagger Jack on March 9.<\/p>\n
Discreet Dancer has found the wire first four times in six career starts for $353,150. Following a third-place finish in last year’s Fountain of Youth, the chestnut colt was sidelined for 11 1\/2 months.<\/p>\n
Cross Traffic, owned by GoldMark Farm, breezed Tuesday morning four-furlongs in 48.82 seconds over Belmont’s main track. The lightly raced gray colt won his first two career starts early this year before falling to Flat Out by a head in the Westchester Handicap at Belmont Park on April 27.<\/p>\n
“It’s pretty rare that you see a horse who has come that far in such a short time,” said Pletcher. “He was an unraced 4-year-old at the start of the year. He ran a huge race in the Westchester. He just lost to a tough, seasoned veteran who seems to love Belmont. We were very pleased with his race, and he’s doing just as well or even better than he came into (the Westchester).”<\/p>\n
With two wins in three lifetime starts, Cross Traffic has banked $81,300.<\/p>\n
Among the other likely starters in the Met Mile are Fed Biz, Jimmy Creed, Sahara Sky, Fort Loudon, Mark Valeski, Mucho Macho Man and Swagger Jack. Handsome Mike is possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Elmont, NY (Sports Network) – Discreet Dancer and Cross Traffic will represent the stable of trainer Todd Pletcher in Monday’s $750,000 Metropolitan Handicap (Met Mile) at Belmont Park. Both 4-year-olds, who each had half-mile workouts Tuesday, are coming off close losses in their most recent starts, each as the favorite. Owned by E. Paul Robsham […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[330],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-horses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9464\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}