Boise might head for Preakness with win in El Camino Real

Things have gone according to plan quite a bit lately for Jonathan Wong. 

As a young trainer with strings of horses in both northern and southern California, Wong has become a dominant force at Golden Gate Fields. Starting in 2017 he picked up where Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer left off, winning 14 training titles with a 15th a virtual certainty from the current meet.

He may have a handle on what it takes to win all those claiming and allowance and minor stakes races. But what happens if Boise, one of Wong’s diamonds in the rough, should win Saturday in the El Camino Real Derby?

“To be 100 percent honest, we don’t really have a plan.”

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That was what Wong, 33, a native of San Francisco, told Horse Racing Nation on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod. If Boise were to win, he would be assured of an expenses-paid berth into the Preakness not to mention 10 qualifying points toward the Kentucky Derby.

“If we get fortunate enough to win this race on Saturday, if we get lucky enough, we might take a shot at the Preakness just because you have an automatic entrance into the Preakness,” Wong said. “We might point to that and take a shot at that.”

Might, indeed. That was exactly what happened with Rombauer last year for trainer Michael McCarthy when he pulled off the El Camino Real-Preakness double. Would Wong dare to dream with this Temple City colt who was a $27,000 yearling purchase with a more certain future on the turf?

“That would be amazing,” he said. “This horse is very versatile. I think he can run on the synthetic. I think he can run on the turf. We had him at Del Mar before he ever ran, and he trained OK. He didn’t train as good on the dirt at Del Mar as he does on the Tapeta at Golden Gate. The dirt is still a little bit of a question mark with him.”

Boise, the 9-2 third choice on the morning line, does not have to answer that question Saturday. The 1 1/8-mile El Camino Real Derby will be run around two turns on the all-weather surface at the Berkeley racetrack. That was where he closed from 7 1/2 lengths back to win Dec. 4 going a mile in the $75,000 Gold Rush Stakes.

“Even when he won the Gold Rush, he didn’t get a great trip,” Wong said. “He got steadied on the back side. He never really got through until about the eighth pole. He came closing with a rush.”

Otherwise, the colt owned by Jason Hall, Scott Herbertson and Sheldon Steinmetz has spent his early racing days on the turf. After winning his debut last September going five furlongs at Golden Gate, he finished a close fourth in the Qatar Gold Mile Stakes on the Breeders’ Cup undercard at Del Mar. He came within a half-length of pulling off a 14-1 upset.

“He got stuck behind horses,” Wong said. “He finally got out, and he came closing with a big, late kick. He was unfortunate to miss second by two noses. With a clear trip he might have been right there to win.”

Wong is throwing out Boise’s flop last month, when he drew post 8 in a field of nine and went wide to finish an uninspiring fifth at odds of 3-1 in the one-mile $100,000 Eddie Logan Stakes at Santa Anita.

“That Santa Anita turf course, horses either love it or hate it,” Wong said.

Southern California shippers, in turn, have shown a love for Golden Gate, although local horses have not been shut out in the El Camino Real. Look at Zakaroff in 2017 and Anothertwistafate in 2019.

This weekend Boise will try to beat 10 other 3-year-olds who include mid-pack runner Mackinnon (8-5), trainer Doug O’Neill’s two-time stakes winner on the turf, and fellow closer Blackadder (7-2), who broke his maiden last month for Bob Baffert. They arrived at Golden Gate from Santa Anita.

In a race that may be lacking obvious early speed, is there enough pace for Boise to chase?

“If you watched his debut, he broke OK,” Wong said. “He was only a couple lengths off of 21-and-3 and 45-and-2. I personally feel we don’t need to be that far back.”

One can hear Wong saying as much to Evin Roman, who has become his go-to rider at Golden Gate. Roman will be the fifth jockey is as many races for Boise, perhaps tasked with staying closer than the seven or so lengths the colt has had lately between him and his frontrunning rivals.

“If they don’t go super quick up front,” Wong said, “I think we could be sitting three or four off of it.”

Following slower pacesetters worked just fine last year for Rombauer, who reeled in six horses that went out no faster than 1:12.20 for the first three-quarters of a mile of the El Camino Real.

“If they do decide to go quick up front,” Wong said, “and if we have some pace to set us up, I’m not going to complain, either.”

And if the shippers do not like the synthetic surface the way Boise does, all the better for Wong.

“If your horse doesn’t take to the Tapeta, it doesn’t matter what strategy you use,” he said. “I think it just depends on the horse. That surface plays very fair. You can win on the lead, and you can win from off the pace. It’s a very fair surface. It’s a lot different than Santa Anita.”

If fair translates to meaning kind to one particular closer who happens to call a Bay Area barn his home, that would work for Wong, whose best horse was 2020 Grade 1-winning mare Keeper Ofthe Stars.

Boise could move Wong one modest step closer to the sort of domination Hollendorfer showed for a generation, winning 37 consecutive Golden Gate training titles while working with North America’s winningest jockey Russell Baze. Not that Wong will get that far ahead of himself.

As he put it, “If I could be a quarter as good, I’d be very happy.”