Maximus Mischief’s Raging Torrent gets second Grade 1 win in Met Mile (G1)
June 7, 2025
Raging Torrent’s front-running victory in the $1 million Met Mile (G1) Saturday at Saratoga gave the 3-year-old Maximus Mischief colt his second Grade 1 win and moved the Spendthrift stallion up to third on this year’s Third-Crop Sire list, behind fellow Spendthrift sires Omaha Beach and Vino Rosso.
Maximus Mischief leads the list by graded stakes winners and graded stakes horses.
Raging Torrent was facing only four foes on Saturday, but the field included two of the best horses in training in Fierceness and White Abarrio. Raging Torrent took the fight to them right away, hustling to the lead to get a half-mile in :46.86, with Fierceness just a half-length back. Fierceness was nearly on even terms turning into the stretch and just half-length behind with a furlong to go, then Raging Torrent found more and pulled away for a 2 ½-length win in 1:35.89 on a sloppy racetrack.
“(Winning the Met Mile) is 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,” California-based winning trainer Doug O’Neill said. “He’s got speed. He’s got stamina. He’s got class. He has no problem shipping and it’s just a wonderful feeling.”
O’Neill added, “If he comes out of it good, the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1, in November at Del Mar) will be a logical goal and maybe a race between now and then. The plan is to take him to California on Tuesday and play it by ear.”
Owned by Yuesheng Zhang and Craig Dado, Raging Torrent’s current winning streak includes victories in the Godolphin Mile (G2) in March and the Malibu S. (G1) in late December. His overall record is now 7-1-2 in 14 starts, with earnings of $1,797,400.
Raging Torrent was bred in Kentucky by Rodney J. Winkler and Alfonso Mazzetti.