ELMONT, N.Y. – A colt by Eskendereya out of the mare Indian Miss, equipped with blinkers, flying along on his wrong lead, zipped an eighth of a mile in 10 seconds at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s 2017 spring sale of 2-year-olds in training. If you think he was fast then, you should see him now. Mitole still is not great at changing leads but he’s damn good at leading, especially going across the finish line. His six-race winning streak dates to March 2018, and after capturing his first Grade 1 race last month in the Churchill Downs Stakes he’ll try to win an even more important race Saturday at Belmont Park, the $1.2 million Metropolitan Handicap. “Per usual, we reward a horse who makes a successful jump with a higher jump,” said trainer Steve Asmussen. “That’s the nature of the game.” Mitole breaks from post 3 under regular rider Ricardo Santana Jr. in the longest and strongest race of his career. The Belmont racing secretary gave Mitole a 122-pound impost, the same as $1.5 million Godolphin Mile winner Coal Front and two pounds fewer than Thunder Snow, a two-time winner of the $10 million Dubai World Cup, and McKinzie, judged by many to be the leading North American dirt horse in training. It’s the deepest race run this year in North America. “Some very good horses are going to get beat Saturday,” Asmussen said. :: Belmont Stakes one-stop shop: Get Clocker Reports, PPs, packages, and more Asmussen won his first Metropolitan Handicap one year ago with Bee Jersey. He trains Mitole for owners Bill and Corrinne Heiligbrodt, longtime clients who were among Asmussen’s first major supporters. “It’s been over 20 years and 1,000 winners,” said Asmussen. Mitole was bred by the late Edward Cox and is by Eskendereya, who subsequently was exported from America to Japan, and out of the Indian Charlie mare Indian Miss. It’s not a standout pedigree and Mitole clearly wasn’t a standout yearling, bringing $20,000 at the Keeneland September sale of 2016. He looked better seven months later at the OBS sale working that furlong, and the Heiligbrodts’s East Hickman Bloodstock paid $140,000 to acquire Mitole. It wasn’t until the following autumn that Mitole wound up in the Asmussen barn, and after three works at Churchill Downs he shipped to Fair Grounds, where he debuted Nov. 25, 2017 – and finished third. There was no shame, it turned out, in losing to that race’s winner, Bobby’s Wicked One, who finished second to Mitole last month in the Churchill Downs. But while Mitole ran better in his second out six weeks later at Oaklawn, he still was beaten again. “When he got beat first time out it probably was because of how fast he was,” Asmussen said. “Think of how many good horses lose their first race. It’s because what you’re doing with them doesn’t stretch them. You’re pleased with how they’re working, but then when they run, they’re not ready.” Mitole was fully ready for his third start. He won by 10 lengths, ran a fast raw time, got a 96 Beyer Speed Figure, and attracted attention well beyond the confines of his own barn. Mitole actually lost three weeks after his maiden win, bobbling at the start of his stakes debut, the Gazebo, struggling to find his best stride over a sloppy track, and eventually coming up 1 3/4 lengths short of victorious Bourne In Nixa, proving once again that an inferior horse can defeat its better in a single race. Bourne In Nixa also started last month at Churchill, finishing seventh in a $5,000 claiming race. Yet he remains the last horse to defeat Mitole, who has won his six in a row by more than 32 combined lengths. Only his own body, subject to the rigors of his incredible speed, has slowed Mitole since the Gazebo. After crushing his rivals in the Bachelor Stakes last April at Oaklawn (107 Beyer) and whipping more 3-year-olds in the Chick Lang Stakes (103 Beyer), Mitole was headed for a start on the 2018 Belmont Stakes undercard in the Woody Stephens Stakes when a fractured splint bone derailed his season. That’s an injury that doesn’t require surgical repair but does insist on plenty of rest, and when Mitole got back into more serious training this past winter at Fair Grounds, persistent rain, sloppy tracks and a nagging hoof issue delayed his comeback. There were initial hopes of going to Dubai in late March, but the World Cup card just came too quickly for Mitole. So far that has worked out fine. Mitole rocketed to an allowance comeback win and turned away the very good sprinter Whitmore in the Count Fleet Sprint Handicap on April 13. Much was made in that race about how Whitmore, in a race lacking pace other than Mitole, was taken out of his comfort zone by being asked to stick close to the lead and keep Mitole in range. But that is exactly what makes Mitole such a special horse – his ability to break like a shot, run very fast through the early and middle portions of a race, and still finish with great energy. Yet Mitole is no run-off sprinter. Asmussen stretched him beyond six furlongs for the first time in the Churchill Downs, and Santana gently eased Mitole a couple lengths off the leader, racing third down the backstretch, tracking around the turn, and not even making the front until midstretch. Mitole sailed through that distance test, turning a two-length stretch-call lead to a 3 1/2-length advantage at the finish, looking like a horse who could get a mile in top company. “He ran some fast races as a 3-year-old but has come back a better horse this year,” Asmussen said. “We were dreaming about the Met Mile, being as significant as it can be and what an important race it is. I have nothing but respect for the competition. His last race was his best to date, and all we need is another lifetime best out of him.” Mitole hasn’t looked maxed out yet. As fast as he’s been, he might run even faster Saturday.