Page 28 - June 2018 Speedhorse

2-time World Champion/2-time Champion Aged Horse/2-time Champion Aged Gelding Jessies First Down, bred and owned by Ted Abrams, returns after winning the 2017 All American Gold Cup-G1.
2-time Champion J Fire Up, bred by Jaime Gomez and co-owned by Gomez, Darling Farms and Ernesto Solis, in the post parade before winning the 2017 Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity-G1.
as one of the leading trainers at Los Alamitos Race Course, having saddled such runners as World Champion Jess You And I, Champion Higher Fire, Champion Carters Cartel, Champion Secret Card, Sassy Smith, and many other top sprinters.
But Gomez has also bred a number of noteworthy racehorses, including last year’s Champion 2 Year Old and Champion 2-Year- Old Filly J Fire Up. Racing under the owner- ship of Gomez, Darling Farms and Ernesto Solis, J Fire Up never finished lower than second last year, earning $1,430,411.
“I raised this baby and I tried to sell
her to everybody,” recalled Gomez, who consigned J Fire Up to the 2016 Los Alamitos Equine Sale. “I bought her back for $25,000; I wanted $30,000. This guy Dan Darling, he’s like a lucky charm. Everything he touches turns to gold. He came up to me and he wanted to buy horses. He liked the filly and I said, ‘Give me $20,000 and you can own half.’ That was the deal of his lifetime.”
Gomez kept half ownership of the filly, and split his half with Solis, who has worked for him for 23 years.
“We should have kept 33 percent, but we sold half to Dan. But that’s okay,” Gomez added with a smile. “The feeling . . . I think it’s better for me because that’s my baby, my mare. She’s like my daughter.”
“I had to twist his arm to sell me this filly,” Darling added of the deal that resulted in the partnership on J Fire Up. “He tried to sell me one of the high-dollar ones, but I told him, ‘No, I want that one.’ I liked the way she was built. She had these shoulders. I like big horses – real big horses – and I just loved the way she moved.”
Starting exclusively at Los Alamitos,
J Fire Up ran second in a maiden race to
kick off her career, then returned to win a trial to the Ed Burke Million Futurity-G1. She finished second by a head in the finals, quickly marking herself as one of California’s top juveniles. She lived up to the hype, as she won all six of her starts after the Ed Burke. Included in the streak were wins in the Governor’s Cup Futurity-G2, Golden State Million Futurity-G1 and Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity-G1.
“This filly has proved that she’s got class since day one,” Gomez said. “She’s healthy all the time. She comes out of the race like she didn’t run. The next day, she’s happy, kick- ing and bucking. That’s what you want from these horses.
“J Fire Up has never made a mistake,” he added. “She breaks like a bullet all the time. She just goes out there and runs her race every time.”
The filly reminds Gomez of her mother, This Boogie Fires. From 2011 to 2012, Gomez trained This Boogie Fires for own- ers Carlos Lopez and Mike Abraham. The Walk Thru Fire daughter is a graded stakes placed winner of $64,040, having recorded a third-place finish behind Champion Separate Fire in the Kindergarten Futurity-G1 and fifth-place efforts in the La Primera Del Ano Derby-G3 and Huntington Beach Handicap.
This Boogie Fires was the fastest quali- fier to both the Kindergarten and the La Primera, with Gomez calling her “one of the fastest horses I ever had.” That’s high praise from a man who has saddled some of the best racehorses in the business.
“She got a little infection in the gut and I had to retire her early,” Gomez said of This Boogie Fires. “She was sound, but she can’t carry babies.
I have to do embryos every time. She’s super nice. Everything she’s thrown has been a runner. “Kiddy Up (Corona Cartel-Miss Racy Vike,
Racin Free), I’ve believed in him all my life,” Gomez added. “I thought that he would be a great cross with a Walk Thru Fire mare with Strawfly Special on the bottom. I went ahead and bred This Boogie Fires to Kiddy Up and the result was J Fire Up.”
Prior to J Fire Up, This Boogie Fires produced two foals – Thats Imperial and One Sweet Speed – in her first crop. Thats Imperial si 90 ($67,327), by Mr Jess Perry, has a record of 2-3-2 from 13 starts and was sixth in the 2016 Golden State Million Futurity-G1. One Sweet Speed si 87 ($15,043), by One Sweet Jess, is also a winner. In 2015, in addition to J Fire Up, This Boogie Fires produced the winning Mr Jess Perry daughter Fire Soul ($5,025).
This Boogie Fires is out of Boogie Special, a mare Gomez also bred and owned. The Strawfly Special daughter ran third, twice
in stakes company, retiring after 10 starts with three wins, one second, three thirds and $28,138 earned.
This Boogie Fires has two 2-year-old fillies racing in 2018, and both are in Gomez’s stable. Darling Farms and Gomez co-own the Mr Jess Perry daughter Perrys Pleasure, who ran third in a maiden race on May 18 at Los Alamitos. First Class Cartel, owned by Gomez, ran third in a trial to the Kindergarten Futurity-G1 on May 6 in her most recent start.
As This Boogie Fires’ foals continue to prove themselves on the track, Gomez may already be planning the third generation of runners from this blossoming maternal family.
“I want to get a One Famous Eagle foal out of her,” Gomez said of his newest Champion.
26 SPEEDHORSE, June 2018