Royal Son and Metaboss Head the Spiral Stakes

With only ten stops left on the road to the 2015 Kentucky Derby, the $550,000 Spiral Stakes (G3) at Turfway Park offers the last opportunity to use a synthetic racing surface as a means to qualify for the Run for the Roses. The polytrack option drew a full field of 12 when post positions were drawn on Wednesday.

In 2005, Turfway Park became the first racetrack in North America to put down an artificial racing surface and since then, two winners of the Spiral have had a major impact in the Triple Crown. In 2007, Hard Spun went on to finish second in the Derby, third in the Preakness, and fourth in the Belmont. In 2011, Animal Kingdom went from the turf at Gulfstream Park to the polytrack at Turfway and then on to victory in the Derby.

The Spiral offers 85 qualifying points [50-20-10-5] to the top four finishers. Let’s take a look at the horses based on their experience with artificial racing surfaces. Since the post position draw, Imperia, the morning line co-second choice at 4-1, was scratched.

Horses with synthetic experience:

PP 1 - Royal Son [7-2 ML] – Rodney Prescott – Todd Pletcher – Royal Son had toiled in the barn of Pletcher as another of many horses with a great deal of promise. This son of Tiznow had only won a race by disqualification until he was sent to Turfway for the John Battaglia Stakes. There he exploded to a five length gate to wire victory that earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 97, which is tops for this field.

Veteran rider Rodney Prescott picked up the mount on Royal Son at Turfway Park. Prescott has won 3,237 races since his career began in 1994. A victory in the Spiral would be his very first in a graded stakes race.

PP 8 - Task Force Glory [30-1 ML] – Rafael Hernandez – Michael Maker – Task Force Glory is one of three starters for Michael Maker in the Spiral. After his first six starts on the grass, he finished a distant sixth in the Battaglia 22 lengths behind Royal Son.

PP 9 - Conquest Typhoon [5-1 ML] – Mike Smith – Mark Casse – In his seven race career Conquest Typhoon has only finished out of the money once. He finished second in the Grey (G3) at Woodbine last year and then was third in the El Camino Real (G3) behind Metaboss.

PP 10 - Firespike [20-1 ML] – Miguel Mena – Michael Maker – Firespike debuted as a three-year-old with an off the pace win in a Florida-bred stake on the artificial Ocala Training Track. From there, he too was well-beaten by Royal Son in the Battagalia.

PP 11 - Metaboss [4-1 ML] – Alex Solis – Jeff Bonde – Metaboss comes in to the Spiral with two wins in two starts as a three-year-old. After breaking his maiden on the Santa Anita grass, trainer Jeff Bonde sent this son of Street Boss north to Golden Gate Fields where he made a big closing move to win the El Camino Real on the Tapeta surface to earn 10 Derby qualifying points.

Turf to synthetic:

PP 3 – Watchyourownbobber [20-1 ML] – Rajiv Maragh – Michael Maker – The third of the Maker runners has two consecutive front running wins on the grass at Gulfstream Park. He does have a fourth place finish on Arlington Park’s polytrack.

PP 4 - Wireless Future [12-1 ML] – Florent Geroux – Tom Amoss – Wireless Future has three wins in a row at Fair Grounds Race Course. Amoss runners win at his usual high percentage on all racing surfaces.

PP 5 - Another Lemon Drop [6-1] – Drayden Van Dyke – Philip Bauer – This Fair Grounds shipper is stakes placed on grass and dirt. Most noteworthy is a good fourth place finish in the very competitive LeComte (G3).

PP 12 - Dubai Sky [8-1 ML] – Jose Lezcano – Bill Mott – This son of Candy Ride has won his last three starts on the grass including the Kitten’s Joy at Gulfstream. In addition to making his first start on polytrack, Dubai Sky will run with Lasix for the first time.

Dirt to synthetic:

PP 7 - Magic of Believing [20-1 ML] - Shane Laviolette – Ken McPeek – Magic of Believing has won his last two starts at Oaklawn Park. In an early maiden race he finished second behind Another Lemon Drop in his only turf start. His recent wins have come from off the pace.

PP 2 - Big Family [30-1 ML] – Alberto Jimenez – Gustavo Delgado – Big Family has only run on dirt including a third in the Barbados (G3) and a second behind the well respected, Khozan.

Spiral analysis:

The two morning line favorites Royal Son and Metaboss seem to hold all of the cards in the Spiral. Their impressive stakes victories on artificial surfaces give them a significant edge over the rest of the field. The pace of the race could be the factor that determines the winner. Royal Son has done his best running on or right with the pace setters, while Metaboss likes to make a big closing run. There appears to be several others horse that also prefer the front running style. Will Royal Son be able to show his class and compete with others on the front end and then have enough to fend off the closing move of Metaboss and the other late runners?

With the number of American racetracks with artificial surfaces on the decline, handicapping becomes even trickier with six horses in the Spiral making the switch to the polytrack. Dubai Sky, Another Lemon Drop, Wireless Future, or Magic of Believing could be major factors in the race if they take to the Turfway Park track.