El Dorado Shooter all alone

SAN MATEO, Calif. - El Dorado Shooter ($6.60) won the break and turned an expected pace duel into a one-sided victory as he went wire to wire in Saturday's Grade 3, $150,000 Bay Meadows Breeders' Cup Sprint at Bay Meadows.

Presidio Heights, expected to battle El Dorado Shooter early, broke a step slow and bumped with Halo Cat at the start. He was never a pace factor and finished fifth in the field of six.

El Dorado Shooter set fractions of 21.73 seconds and 43.58, and won the six-furlong race by 4 3/4 lengths over Halo Cat in 1:08.61.

"He was running so easy early," said winning jockey Chad Schvaneveldt. "He was very relaxed down the backstretch. When I asked him in the lane, he had another gear."

El Dorado Shooter acted up in the gate, backing out once and tossing his head. Roberto Gonzalez, rider of Presidio Heights, said the commotion involving El Dorado Shooter might have contributed to Presidio Heights's poor start.

"The outside horse was moving around and making a lot of noise," Gonzalez said. "It distracted my horse. He was trying to look around and kept flicking his ears back and forth. When they popped the gate, he wasn't focused, and we broke dead last. It cost me everything. He didn't stumble or anything. He just didn't break. After that, he never fired."

Trainer Cliff Delima, who bred El Dorado Shooter, said the 6-year-old gelding might be pointed to the Breeders' Cup Sprint.