Kentucky-bred Raging Torrent showed no signs of rust from a winning sojourn to the Middle East in April, returning to the races with an emphatic gate-to-wire score in the $1 million Metropolitan Handicap (G1) during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course on Saturday, June 7. The win followed Raging Torrent’s decisive win in the Godolphin Mile (G2) at Meydan in his previous start.
Owned by Yuesheng Zhang and Craig Dado and trained by Doug O’Neill, Raging Torrent turned back multiple Grade 1 winner Fierceness in the lane to win by 2 ½ lengths in a final time of 1:35.89 under Frankie Dettori. Raging Torrent is a 4-year-old son of Maximus Mischief. With the win in the Metropolitan Handicap, Raging Torrent secured a berth in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1) in November at Del Mar.
“It’s something that I never dreamt of just because it seems so far-fetched, but a horse like Raging Torrent is kind of a once-in-a-lifetime kind of horse,” O’Neill said of winning the prestigious Met Mile. “He’s got speed, stamina, and class. He has no problem shipping and it’s just a wonderful thing.”
Raging Torrent Displays Determination in Met Mile Score
Fierceness finished 2 ¼ lengths clear of Just a Touch in third. White Abarrio finished fourth. Dettori said of the winning trip, “I knew I’d get to the bend first, then it was to manage his speed as much as I could. I had Johnny wise to take me on at the three-eighths, but at the quarter-pole I was in the lap of the gods. He showed great determination to get to the line. What a horse he’s been for me, Malibu [Stakes], Dubai, here. We took on the best of the best and became triumphant.”
Bred in Kentucky by Rodney J. Winkler and Alfonso Mazzetti, Raging Torrent has now banked more than $1.7 million after adding $550,000 to his coffers from the Met Mile.