It took a while, but the 2011 crop of 3-year-olds, derided as sub-par through the Triple Crown, has turned out to be very good indeed — as demonstrated by yesterday’s 119th running of the Grade 1, $750,000 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park, in which last year’s Preakness winner Shackleford held off fellow 4-year-old Caleb’s Posse to win by a nose after a heart-stopping stretch duel.

Another 4-year-old, To Honor and Serve, the 8-5 favorite in the field of six, finished third.

A hickory-tough son of Forestry who danced every dance last year for trainer Dale Romans, including all three Triple Crown races, the Haskell and Travers, Shackleford gunned to the lead in the Met Mile under new rider John Velazquez, subbing for the injured Jesus Castanon, who’d been aboard the big chestnut for each of his previous 15 starts.

Keeping To Honor and Serve, ridden by Jose Lezcano, boxed in along the rail, Shackleford raced through splits of :22.77 and :44.73, then kicked clear as Caleb’s Posse, who beat Shackleford in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, was launching his rally wide into the stretch under Rajiv Maragh.

Caleb’s Posse came flying with dead aim on the leader, but Shackleford dug in courageously to turn back his bid, the mile run in 1:33.30. He paid $8.80 topping a $30.20 exacta.

“He’s gutsy as they come,” Romans said. “Hopefully, he’ll get the credit he deserves. Caleb’s Posse is a great horse, and it’s a good rivalry. To be a nose apart at the wire, I think it lived up to the hype.”

Two Grade 1 stakes preceded the Met Mile. In the $400,000 Ogden Phipps Handicap, It’s Tricky, the 2-1 second choice in a field of five fillies and mares, came with a determined run down the stretch under Eddie Castro to claw past front-running Cash for Clunkers by three-quarters of a length. The 4-year-old daughter of Mineshaft, now 3-for-3 this year for trainer Kiaran McLaughin, ran the 1 1/16 miles in 1:41.73 to pay $6.20.

Awesome Maria, favored at 3-5, had her six-race winning streak snapped when she finished a non-threatening third.

“I did a really poor job preparing her for this race,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “It wasn’t her fault. I’ll take the blame.”

In a field of six 3-year-old fillies for the $300,000 Acorn, trainer Bob Baffert’s Contested notched her fourth straight dominant score in five starts, quickly opening daylight under new rider Javier Castellano and coasting home gate to wire by five lengths. The daughter of Ghostzapper ran the mile in 1:34.61 to pay $4.10 as the heavy favorite.