As a grade 1 winner at 2 who then followed with a close runner-up finish in the 2023 Preakness Stakes (G1) at 3, Blazing Sevens looked like he would be a force in the second half of 2023.
But one never knows when challenges will present themselves in racing. Returning to top form in 2023 after that Preakness effort would prove elusive for Blazing Sevens and his trainer Chad Brown.
“After that tough defeat in the Preakness, he was never quite moving right afterward,” Brown said. “I tried to get him into a nice race here at Saratoga and he came out of that even a little worse. He was just not himself.”
The good news is that Blazing Sevens is back for his 4-year-old season and will enter the $1 million Metropolitan Handicap (G1) June 8 at Saratoga Race Course off a clear victory in an April 20 allowance-level race at Aqueduct Racetrack. That effort marked the first race for the son of Good Magic since the aforementioned start at Saratoga, a third-place finish in the Curlin Stakes in July 2023.
Brown said the time off has worked wonders for the 4-year-old colt campaigned by Rodeo Creek Racing. He’ll enter Saturday’s test off five works on the Belmont Park training track since the allowance win.
“I love the way the horse is moving,” Brown said. “He’s going to have to be at his best because it’s a tough field but I do feel like this horse is going as well as he was when he almost won the Preakness last year.”
At his best, Blazing Sevens won his maiden special weight debut in spectacular fashion, drawing off to a 6 1/4-length score in that six-furlong test in July 2022 at Saratoga. He earned a grade 1 placing in the Hopeful Stakes (G1) at the Spa and then registered a 3 1/4-length score in the one-mile Champagne Stakes (G1) at Aqueduct.
Finishing second by a head to National Treasure —who also is entered in the Met Mile—would prove the highlight of a winless 2023. While that big effort at 1 3/16 miles showed Blazing Sevens could handle a longer distance, Brown believes the mile may be his best.
“Even though he narrowly lost the Preakness going a mile and three-sixteenths, going back to the (one-mile) Champagne it looked like his best race,” Brown said. “He might be a little better with a little pace in front of him, which you get in a mile race as opposed to races that are a little too far for him. Going forward, he looks like a mile to a mile and an eighth will be right in his wheelhouse.”
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