There was a prep race on Saturday that provided its winner with 10 valuable points in the Road to the Kentucky Derby points chase.

That alone gives that fortunate 3-year-old a 50-50 chance of starting in the Run for the Roses. Two years ago, in the initial season of the format, 10 points were golden and were enough to secure a spot in the starting gate on the first Saturday in May. Last year, double that figure was the cutoff for Derby starters.

In all likelihood, though, Metaboss' victory in Saturday's $200,000 El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields will be little more than an afterthought on May 2 when the opening leg of the Triple Crown is contested on a natural, dirt track at Churchill Downs. You see, apples are not oranges.

Golden Gate is one of a handful of tracks in the United States that still conducts racing over a synthetic surface and as much as Metaboss relished the mile-and-an-eighth distance of the El Camino Real Derby, form on a synthetic track usually does not translate into a similar effort on dirt.

Expecting a horse to race at a high level on both a dirt and synthetic surface typically leads to disappointment. While 2007 Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense raced on Polytrack in his final Kentucky Derby prep, he finished his career 0-for-3 on synthetics. Only Animal Kingdom, the winner of the 2011 Kentucky Derby, possessed the astonishing amount of versatility that enabled him to win a Triple Crown race and notch a graded stakes victory on a synthetic surface.

Perhaps a young and developing horse like Metaboss can follow in those footsteps, but don't bet on it. In his four races prior to Saturday, Metaboss raced three times on grass and once on dirt. Grass racing is considered to be akin to running over a synthetic track, making it little surprise that he was never worse than third on turf and was beaten by 3-1/4 lengths or less in his two losses. He was fourth, beaten 8-3/4 lengths, in his lone dirt race.

Apples and oranges.

At least this year, the El Camino Real is one of only two 2015 stakes on a synthetic surface that are included in the 25 Road the Kentucky Derby races. The other is the Spiral at Turfway Park on March 21, the same race that was Animal Kingdom's springboard to Derby fame and fortune in 2011.

The situation was far different from 2008 through 2010 when the major 3-year-old preps in California were contested on a synthetic surface. Not surprisingly, after switching back to dirt, in 2012 I'll Have Another gave the Santa Anita Derby its first Kentucky Derby winner since Giacomo in 2005.

In April, Keeneland's Blue Grass Stakes will be contested on dirt for the first time since 2006 and will merit more consideration as a meaningful Derby prep than it has in recent years when it was captured by a string of horses better suited for turf than a dirt race.

And for handicappers there is a bright side to that. The Kentucky Derby has traditionally been a perplexing challenge because of inexperience at the distance and horses from different parts of the country meeting for the first time.

At least this year there will not be many oranges among the apples.

Be thankful for small favors.