2025 Belmont Stakes & Met Mile Preview
Dr. Gregory A. Beroza, aka the HorseDoc®, is on site for the 2025 Met Mile and Belmont Stakes. Here’s his pre-race analysis.
The 2025 Belmont Stakes and Met Mile are being run on Saturday, June 7th. They are the main focus of a unique five-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival extended weekend, which began yesterday, Wednesday, June 4th and will conclude on Sunday, June 8th. The weekend’s activities will include multiple graded stakes races plus auxiliary on-track and local off-track activities such as an evening concert called Belmont on Broadway.
The 157th edition of the G1 Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets will feature a $2,000,000 purse. It is being contested by eight three-year-old horses and will be run at a non-traditional 1-1/4 miles, which is similar to the Kentucky Derby distance. This is the second year for such a change in location and distance from the traditional 1-1/2 miles typically run at Belmont Park, which is undergoing renovation.
The eight Belmont Stakes entries respectfully listed by post-position, name, trainer, jockey, odds are:
| Post # | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Odds |
| 1 | Hill Road | Chad Brown | Irad Ortiz, Jr. | 10:1 |
| 2 | Sovereignty | Billy Mott | Junior Alvarado | 2:1 |
| 3 | Rodriguez | Bob Baffert | Mike Smith | 6:1 |
| 4 | Uncaged | Todd Pletcher | Luis Saez | 30:1 |
| 5 | Crudo | Todd Pletcher | John Velasquez | 15:1 |
| 6 | Baeza | John Shirriffs | Flavien Prat | 4:1 |
| 7 | Journalism | Michael McCarthy | Umberto Rispoli | 8:5 |
| 8 | Heart of Honor | Jamie Osborne | Saffie Osborne | 30:1 |
One of the two horses receiving the most media attention is Sovereignty, which won the Kentucky Derby and skipped running in the second race of the Triple Crown Series, the Preakness.
Sovereignty in a track work out. Photos by ACoglianese-NYRA.
The second horse is Journalism, which finished a strong second in the Kentucky Derby, and then ran a hard-fought win in the Preakness Stakes. Both horses are solid contenders and appear to be ready for Saturday’s competition. The race is billed as a showdown between the two 2025 G1 Classic Triple Crown Race winners.
Journalism. Photo by GBeroza.
Baeza is one of the two second tier tough contenders. He finished a very competitive third in the Kentucky Derby and also skipped the Preakness Stakes. The other ‘rested’ competitive horse is Rodriguez, trained by two-time Triple Crown winning trainer Bob Baffert and ridden by Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith. Rodriguez scratched out of the Kentucky Derby with a bruised foot, but subsequently has healed and is ready for competition. He previously won the G2 Wood Memorial with jockey Mike Smith aboard.
Journalism appears to be fit and ready for the competition, however, he is the only unrested horse, having taken on all contenders in the complete 2025 Triple Crown Series which is taxing and demands much effort within a short number of racing days. It will be debated whether or not the other competitors benefited from less stress and the extra period of rest.
The Belmont Stakes will be the 13th race of a 14-race card, with a post-time of 7:04pm. Television coverage of Belmont Stakes Day will air on FOX Sports FS1 starting at 10:30am and national coverage begins on FOX at 2:30pm.
The G1 $1,000,000 Metropolitan Handicap, also known as the Met Mile, will be run at it’s traditional distance of 1-mile. There are only five entries, and the race is being billed as the battle between two older horse superstars: White Abarrio and Fierceness. Due to the discrepancy in prior race performances of its entries, this is a race with assigned weights to level the field. The Met Mile is scheduled to be the eighth race on the card with its televised time still TBA.
The five Met Mile entries respectfully listed by post-position, name, trainer, jockey, odds, and weights are:
| Post # | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Odds | Weight |
| 1 | Fierceness | Todd Pletcher | John Velazquez | 1:1 | 125 lbs |
| 2 | White Abarrio | Saffie Joseph, Jr. | Irad Ortiz, Jr. | 9:5 | 126 lbs |
| 3 | Castle Chaos | Robert Falcone, Jr. | Flavien Prat | 20:1 | 116 lbs |
| 4 | Just a Touch | Brad Cox | Florent Geroux | 4:1 | 119 lbs |
| 5 | Raging Torrent | Doug O’Neill | Frankie Dettori | 9:1 | 123 lbs |
Fierceness is the 2023 Champion two-year-old male and a three-time Grade-1 Stakes winner. He won the 2024 Travers Stakes and recently won the G2 Alysheba Stakes at Churchill Downs on May 2nd.
Fierceness in the Florida Derby. Photo by Angelo Lieto.
White Abarrio is the 2023 Whitney and Breeders Cup Classic winner. He recently won the G1 Pegasus Invitational and the G3 Ghostzapper Stakes.
White Abarrio. Photo by GBeroza.
Raging Torrent won the 2024 Malibu Classic G1and the 2025 Godolphin Mile G2.
HorseDoc captured the opinions of several prominent racing insiders (trainers, jockeys, handicapper) about both the Belmont Stakes and Met Mile races. He also photographed and videoed some of the horses running in these prominent races. This10-minute broadcast can be viewed below.
You can also find this and more on the ‘Talking Horses’® YouTube Channel.
Dr. Gregory A. Beroza, DVM, DACVS, DABVP has been a practicing veterinarian and consultant for 42 years; and HorseDoc® ‘Talking Horses’® media host, author, and consultant since 2007. Dr. Beroza is a multimedia host and broadcasts his productions, including a new Podcast, via his WuzUpDoc Media website: www.WuzUpDoc.com. He can be found on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and other social media sources.
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