EM GOLDEN GATE

Metaboss Motors to El Camino Real Triumph
By Jack Shinar

Metaboss, coming from well off the pace with a powerful wide move, went from maiden winner to Triple Crown prospect with his victory in the $200,000 El Camino Real Derby (gr. III) Feb. 14 at Golden Gate Fields (VIDEO).

Under Hall of Fame jockey Alex Solis, Metaboss overtook favored Conquest Typhoon in deep stretch to post a 6-1 surprise.

Northern California-based conditioner Jeff Bonde trains the winning 3-year-old son of Street Boss   for the partnership of Milan McFetridge, Mersad Metanovic, Daniel Preiss, Arndt, and Azcarate. The final time for the 1 1/8-mile journey over Golden Gate's Tapeta surface was 1:49.92.

Coming off a closing maiden win on the turf at Santa Anita Park Jan. 4, Metaboss was 2 1/2 lengths clear at the wire Saturday. California Derby winner Cross the Line came on late for second, with 9-5 choice Conquest Typhoon, the only graded stakes winner in the field of 10 sophomores, finishing third.

The victory was worth 10 points to the winner toward a possible start in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I).

"He was a late foal and small, so we didn't crank him up early," noted Bonde, best known as the trainer of 2013 juvenile filly champion She's a Tiger. "In the sprints (in his first two starts), he was in with tough horses with a lot of speed but when we stretched him out you could see the difference.

"When you've got a 3-year-old, you're hoping you can make it to the Kentucky Derby. There are a lot of steppingstones on the way, and you have to make sure you're at your best on that given day. We'll look at it a lot closer this week and decide where we go from here."

In a race devoid of speed, Indianaughty inherited the early lead along the inside as 40-1 outsider Ernest Shackleton and Conquest Typhoon ranged up on his outside. Those three dictated a leisurely tempo of :25.29, :49.25, and 1:13.98 before Conquest Typhoon, ridden by Mike Smith, took a narrow advantage in upper stretch. But the race turned into a cavalry charge leaving the far turn with as many as eight vying for position heading into stretch.

Reaching contention late on the outside was Metaboss, who had raced in eighth to the three-eighths pole before gathering steam on the final bend. As Metaboss rallied, Conquest Typhoon continued to lead past midstretch although weakening. Metaboss struck the front on the extreme outside near the sixteenth pole under urging from Solis and quickly drew off in the final drive for the wire.

"I just wanted to save some ground and be patient," Solis said. "He handled the track well. At the half-mile pole I asked him a little bit and he kicked on right away, so I grabbed him and said, 'whoa, whoa.' I said I was going to wait until I got to the five-sixteenths to ask him and that's what I did.

"He caught them quick. He kept opening up on them. He ran a mile and an eighth today; now we just need a mile and a quarter and we're in business."

Cross the Line, fifth at the eighth pole, rallied along the inside for Juan Hernandez to gain the runner-up spot by a neck over Conquest Typhoon. Harmonic finished half a length farther back in fourth, followed by Soul Driver, Stand and Salute, Mischief Clem, Ernest Shackleton, Indianaughty, and Donji.

Mr. and Mrs. John Toffan bred the winner in Kentucky out of the Free House mare Spinning Yarns.

Metaboss was making his first start on an all-weather track after racing on the Santa Anita turf in three of his four prior starts. His other race came on the dirt at Santa Anita in the off-the-turf Juvenile Turf Sprint Stakes in which he finished fourth, nearly nine lengths behind Ocho Ocho Ocho on the Breeders' Cup undercard Nov 1.

"I don't see dirt as a problem because he's trained very well on it at Santa Anita," Bonde said.

Solis, who scored his 5,000th lifetime win Jan. 1, was riding Metaboss for the first time in the El Camino Real Derby. He won the El Camino Real Derby twice before, in 1986 with Snow Chief and 1989 with Double Quick, both for trainer Mel Stute.

The race is one of only three North American preps on the "Road to the Kentucky Derby" contested on a synthetic surface.

Under equal weights of 122 pounds, Metaboss paid $15.20, $7.80, and $4.80 across the board, keying an $89.20 exacta with Cross the Line, who returned $6 and $3.80. Conquest Typhoon paid $2.80 to show.

"Since there was no pace, I thought I'd try to pull something different (and go to the front)," Smith said of his trip aboard the favorite. "I thought, when something is coming this easy, you can't take it away. The winner just beat me, that's all. The winner is a nice horse. I was never going to beat the winner. He beat us pretty handy."

Metaboss was a $10,000 Keeneland November breeding stock sale purchase by Mersad Metanovic Bloodstock from the Mill Ridge Sales consignment. He went through the auction ring a second time last May at Barretts' 2-year-olds in training sale, bringing $60,000 from buyer Rockingham Ranch when consigned by Hartley/De Renzo Thoroughbreds.

With two wins, a second, and a third in five starts, Metaboss has now banked $177,520. The El Camino win was worth $120,000.

Read more on BloodHorse.com: http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/90155/metaboss-motors-to-el-camino-real-triumph#ixzz3RorHh5Fi