Metz Views January Sale as Step Toward California, Home

Sitting in the café during a crowded lunch hour Jan. 9 at the Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale, trainer Jeff Metz was somewhat of an anomaly.

"I haven't seen really any other trainers here from California," the West Coast horseman observed. "I know it's an odd sale, January. It's not like the yearling sale where you see 90% of the trainers."

But Metz has a method to his madness. Networking at the January sale is part of a plan he implemented at the beginning of the year as he works to narrow his focus on the state of California. After racing horses at Turf Paradise in Arizona and Emerald Downs in Washington for several years, in 2019 Metz will hang his shingle at Santa Anita Park and Golden Gate Fields.

Raised in Northern California and training on his own since 1991, Metz won the Emerald Downs training title four times, and he currently ranks second in the standings at Turf Paradise. But his family lives 15 minutes east of Santa Anita, where his wife, Jennifer, works as a clocker, his daughter Zoe is a photographer, and his son Josh gallops racehorses. 

"The first of the year brings a new-year, new-beginnings kind of thing, so throughout December I did some thinking and planning and then, with the new year, started to implement the new plan," Metz said. "It's a pretty big shift this year, but the purses have gone up at Golden Gate, and my family lives in San Dimas. The whole family's working at Santa Anita, and my mom and dad live nearby, so it's real natural to be based at Santa Anita with a little less travel.

"I'm here at Keeneland looking for older racehorses, at some of the fillies—and then there's a few males, also—that would possibly fit at Santa Anita. They have a ship-and-stay program there, so any new horses that come in from out of state, they pay for their first three races, a 10% bonus or $1,000. It's also just nice to get new blood in the group at Santa Anita because when you're claiming, a lot of times it's the same horses over and over."

Along with the search for fresh faces to add to his stable, Metz spent time visiting farms "trying to build some relationships in Kentucky, because it's such a hub of racing," he said. 

"Just letting them know another option for them if they're looking to send horses out to California," he said. "There's a lot of good trainers that I work with day in and day out at Santa Anita, but this will give them another option of a fairly young trainer that's been in the game for over 30 years and yet still has a good 20-year run ahead."

Although Metz has yet to land a purchase, Thursday's catalog awaits. 

"I also put partnerships together," he said. "So I might buy a horse here and then partner it out when I get to California. That is a big part of my business. But they're running for $20,000 and they're selling here for $30,000 or $40,000. Not much falls through the cracks here because there's so many racetracks in the area. But if we don't get anything bought, it's still a good trip to get to know everybody for the future—for the yearling sales and the 2-year-old sales and all that."