Trainer Metz on verge of record-setting meet

AUBURN, Wash. – On Sunday, Jeff Metz will finish the 70-day meeting at Emerald Downs with his third consecutive training title. That much was decided a long time ago. Metz entered the final three days of racing with 62 wins, far ahead of second-place Blaine Wright (32) and five-time champion Frank Lucarelli (31).

Also tantalizingly close for Metz is Tim McCanna’s record for wins in a season at Emerald. McCanna won 66 races during a 91-day meeting in 2008. Metz flooded the entry box Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, taking dead aim at McCanna’s record. He needed four to tie and five to hold the record outright.

“The last two weeks really made a big push for us,” Metz said Friday. “This week, we’ll run what we have and then head for Golden Gate and Turf Paradise. It’s been a great meet with purses up and the enthusiasm right now. Emerald got a nice shot in the arm, a lot of vitality, when the Muckleshoots took over, and I was thrilled to be a part of it.”

Metz also succeeded in drumming up new clients, something that eluded the Southern California-based trainer during his first two years in the Pacific Northwest.

“This year, it’s been a different year with five or six new faces,” Metz said. “It’s kind of turned the corner. People started to know me more, they saw that I kept coming back, and things all fell into place. The new blood, the new owners and horses, that’s what made it a great summer, and part of it was sheer volume. They quietly added up, and all of the sudden, we’re sitting on a 30-win lead in the standings.”

Stryker Phd goes to Golden Gate

Season-ending honors were to be announced over the weekend, and most of the winners were foregone conclusions. Stryker Phd, who won all four of his starts, including the Longacres Mile, was expected to be crowned horse of the meeting, top older horse, and top Washington-bred.

Stryker Phd came out of his victory Sept. 13 in the Muckleshoot Tribal Classic in good order. He is scheduled to work Sunday before shipping out to Golden Gate, said trainer Larry Ross.

Where Stryker Phd will start next still is to be determined. Owners Jim and Mona Hour asked Ross to look into the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Oct. 30 at Keeneland.

“We’re doing all the fact-finding and research, but nothing has been decided yet,” Ross said Friday. “We’ve got time to figure it out. It would be fun to go. He’s nominated, and he would probably get in if we decide to go, but it would be a very, very tough race.”

Stryker Phd employed an unfamiliar style in the Muckleshoot Tribal Classic, laying closer to the pace than usual to prevent the front-running Noosito from sneaking away. Stryker Phd won anyway, outgaming Noosito for a three-quarter-length victory while running 1 1/16 miles in 1:40.75.

In his last eight starts at Emerald Downs, all stakes, Stryker Phd is 8 for 8 with $386,180 in earnings.

“I think he had to change his style quite a bit, and he succeeded,” Ross said. “He didn’t have that big burst, that finish, because he was so much closer. He had to be, otherwise he wouldn’t have caught him. It’s nice that he can show that versatility, but he didn’t have that explosive finish we’re used to seeing.”

Mach One Rules stays sprinting

There’s something to be said for taking the path of least resistance. Lucarelli could have started the unbeaten 2-year-old Mach One Rules in the $65,000 Gottstein Futurity on Sunday but opted instead for the $50,000 Cahill Road Stakes.

The Gottstein is run over 1 1/16 miles, uncharted territory for Mach One Rules, while the Cahill Road is at six furlongs, seemingly a slam dunk for a horse who blazed six furlongs in 1:08.31 two weeks ago. Moreover, the Cahill Road lured just four other horses, none of them formidable. Mach One Rules, who is 3 for 3 for owners Roy and Ellie Schaefer, will be a prohibitive favorite in a field that also includes recent maiden winners Ryan Walt, Possible Spider, and Two Pt Conversion, as well as Rally Wave, a first-time starter for trainer Charles Essex.

** Jockey Javier Matias came into the week needing two wins to reach 1,000 for his career. Matias has quietly had an outstanding meeting, winning with 11 of 32 mounts on 2-year-olds and guiding Bh Lisas Boy to a runaway victory in the Emerald Challenge Championship for Quarter Horses.

** Jockey Leslie Mawing and trainers Rosie Simkins and Rigoberto Velasquez were to be recognized Sunday. Mawing is receiving the Lindy Award, named for the late clerk of scales Lindy Aliment, while Simkins and Velasquez are receiving the Martin Durkan Award, named for the late state senator and proponent of Washington racing.

** Belle Hill, Emerald’s leading 3-year-old filly, will be redirected to California after a planned start at Remington Park was postponed.

“That race came up too tough for her at this point in her career,” Ross said. “Right now, we’re going to go to Golden Gate and point for the Autumn Miss Stakes at Santa Anita, a flat mile on the turf.”