Page 205 - December_2023

White Lightenin’s winning connections include owners Denis and Julie Schoenhofer, trainer James Gonzales, II and jockey Noe Garcia, Jr.
he got the jump on everybody and sped out to a half-length lead for jockey Noe Garcia, Jr.
A slew of horses tried to catch him, but White Lightenin gamely held them off to win by a head in :19.054 for 400 yards.
Not only did White Lightenin win for
the Schoenhofers, he led a Trifecta for trainer James Gonzales II. Gonzales also trains second- place White Knight (a full brother to White Lightenin) and third-place Pick Your Pour.
The Schoenhofers were unable to attend the races that day. Instead, they watched from home in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. At least, Julie watched the race live.
“He was hiding in a closet, afraid he would jinx the race,” Julie said.
“I was in a closet because I can’t stand to watch him—he can act up in the gates,” Denis explained. “His focus is intermittent. He gets in the gates and he gets all wound up.”
White Lightenin’s past performances are littered with comments such as “broke awkward,” “bumped,” “broke in air,” and “fractious gate.”
Yet he had always shown promise. Even with those trouble lines, at two the big gelding won once, ran second four times, and finished third in the Zia Juvenile Stakes.
“He false broke in the Mountain Top Derby,” Denis said. “They took him down in that race.”
In his 2023 debut, White Lightenin won his Mountain Top trial, qualifying the fastest. He finished first in the final, but was disqualified and placed sixth. After two more troubled trips, he qualified the fastest for the New Mexico Classic Derby-RG2, winning his trial by 3/4-lengths.
Noe Garcia, Jr. could be a key to White Lightenin’s latest successes. Gonzales put the jockey on the gelding for the first time in the New Mexico Classic Derby trial, and Garcia and White Lightenin are now two for two together.
The Schoenhofers have raced horses for nearly 20 years and have had such good ones as 2015 West Texas Futurity-G2 winner Nucky, “the fastest horse we’ve ever owned,” Denis said; 2009 Ruidoso Futurity-G1 winner First Klas Fred; and multiple graded winner Mr Perry Dash. They bought White Lightenin for $32,000 at the 2021 Ruidoso New Mexico- bred Yearling Sale from breeder MJ Farms because they particularly liked that he is out of Champion Alice K White.
Alice K White has produced 21 winners from 30 starters. Four have been stakes winners, including Champion Astica and Grade 1 winner Bigg Daddy.
Gonzalez trains second-place White Knight (Eye Am King-Alice K White) for owner Jose Moreno. Daniel Torres rode the gelding, who
ran third in the Zia Derby-RG2 and New Mexico State Fair Derby-RG3.
Gonzalez also trains third-place Pick Your Pour (Jesse James Jr-Tangled Vines) for owners Orlando Granillo and Azucena and Rene Mendoza. Ricky Ramirez rode the gelding, who won the 2022 Mountain Top Futurity-RG2 and ran second in the 2022 Zia Futurity-RG1 and 2023 Zia Derby-RG2.
Completing the field were Flash Divine (First Moonflash-Girlonthego), Jenavi (Big Daddy Cartel-C Twister Seis), Vintage Bourdeaux (Eye Am King-Bridgette Bordeaux), Codex (Big Daddy Cartel-Astica), RC Jessa Flashn (A Passion For Flashn-Remember Me Jess), Flashtoglory (First Moonflash-JP Glory Be), and Dash Flash (First Moonflash-PT Feature Dash).
Noe Garcia, Jr. and White Lightenin head to the winner’s circle.
RACING NEWS
SPEEDHORSE December 2023 203
Coady Photography Coady Photography