Surprise Sale ($3.80) won Sunday’s 11th and final race to give trainer Jeff Metz his 66th win of the meeting—tying the Emerald Downs’ single-season record previously set by Tim McCanna in 2008.
“It’s amazing. . .words can’t describe it,” Metz said in the winner’s circle. “It’s an awesome feeling. It’s like two weeks of pressure building up, and to get (the record) is great.”
Metz has won the last three training titles at Emerald Downs, winning 42 races in 2013, 49 in 2014, and 66 in 2015. His winning margin of 28 races—Frank Lucarelli finished second with 38 wins, also is a track record.
Metz was 0-for-2 Sunday before Surprise Sale and apprentice Osvaldo Gonzalez circled the field on the turn and held off Del Siete Leguas for the victory.
Metz (Saratoga West) also was the meet’s leading owner with 24 wins, second highest total in track history to Swag Stables’ 27 wins in 2009.
Metz finished 66-for-276 (23.9 percent); McCanna was 66-for-333 (19.8 percent) in 2008. Also, the 2008 meet was 91 days compared to 70 days in 2015.
NOTES: Sunday’s fifth race—The Gallyn Mitchell Purse—honored the track’s all-time leading rider, who is retiring after a brilliant 33-year-career that includes 1,419 wins at Emerald Downs. Mitchell, 53, is the only jockey to ride all 20 seasons at Emerald Downs and also is No. 1 with 80 stakes wins at Emerald Downs. Incidentally, the track is planning an official retirement ceremony for Mitchell during the 2016 season. An emotional Mitchell thanked horsemen, fans, and especially his family including wife and agent Denise for his remarkable career. Mitchell said he may have one final mount next month in an out of town stakes race. Overall, Mitchell has 2,742 wins and nearly $22 million in earnings. . .Couton had two wins Sunday for his 30th multiple-win day of the season. The 34-year-old Frenchman averaged nearly 1.5 wins per day at the 70-day meeting, and led the standings from May 2to closing day. . . Alert Bay ($10.80), third in the Longacres Mile, rallied for a one-length victory in Sunday’s $200,000 City of Hope Mile (G2) on the turf at Santa Anita. Blaine Wright, who finished third in the Emerald Downs’ trainers’ standings, trains Alert Bay for owner Peter Redekop. A 4-year-old California-bred, Alert Bay now has four graded wins and over $950,000 in earnings. . .Ken and Marlene Alhadeff served as Honorary Stewards for the Gottstein Futurity. Ken Alhadeff, of course, is the grandson of Longacres’ founder Joe Gottstein. . .Bill Tollett has seven stakes wins at Emerald Down but the Gottstein was his first since August 12, 2006, when Judicature won the Knights Choice Stakes. . .Frank Lucarelli had his second three-win day of the week and finished second in the trainers’ standings with 38 wins. Lucarelli, No. 2 all-time with 837 wins at Emerald Downs, has now finished first or second 13 times in the track’s 20-year history. Lucarelli also was No. 1 this season with 10 2-year-old wins including two on Sunday—Mach One Rules and Valid Keiki ($24.60), a first-time starter by Successful Appeal that scored a four-length win a $20,500 maiden special weight for colts and geldings. . .In addition to Gold Rush Dancer in the Gottstein, owner John Parker also won the ninth race with Among the Stars($3.80), a 4-year-old filly that won four races and over $50,000 after being claimed for $12,500 in May. Parker finished second in the owners’ standings with 15 wins. . .That’s a wrap for 2015. See you next spring.
