Page 155 - December 2017

Golden State Million Futurity-G1
J FIRE UP
by Tracy Gantz
Not only did trainer Jaime Gomez win his 4th Golden State Million Futurity-G1 this year, he did it with a horse he bred and
co-owns. Gomez owns the 2017 winner, J Fire Up, with Darling Farms and Ernesto Solis.
Originally, Gomez and Solis tried to sell J Fire Up at the 2016 Los Alamitos Equine Sale, but they bought her back for $25,000.
“Ernesto and I would have sold her for $30,000,” said Gomez. “That’s what we wanted for her. We bought her back, and then Dan Darling expressed interest in becoming our partner. He ended up buying a 50% share of her, and Ernesto and I kept 25% each.”
The arrangement has worked out well for everybody, especially in the Nov. 5 final of the Golden State Million Futurity-G1. It was, however, a nail-biter.
J Fire Up, who qualified fastest from the Oct. 22 trials with a wire-to-wire 1 3/4-length win, went off as the even-money favorite
with regular rider Jose Nicasio aboard in the finals. Drawn into post 2, she broke just a step behind A Political Lady and flew to the front. But 16-1 shot Matilda Czech challenged J Fire Up and refused to yield.
The 2 fillies battled to the wire, Nicasio encouraging J Fire Up with a right-hand stick. J Fire Up responded and laid her nose on the wire
just a fraction before Matilda Czech, winning in :19.854 for 400 yards. The $380,037 winner’s share pushed her earnings to $712,762.
“When our filly saw
the other filly, she just kept
on trying,” said Gomez.
“Matilda Czech kept coming
on strong, but our filly came
back as well and beat her. To
be honest, I wasn’t sure if we
had won the race. I thought
that maybe we had a dead heat for first.”
Nicasio, the younger brother of jockey Eduardo Nicasio, was winning his first Grade
1 race. “She broke well, but Matilda Czech was right there with us,” Jose said. “I felt Matilda Czech 50 yards into the race. In the final yards, she was really coming on, but we hit the wire together. It was a tough race, and for a moment I thought that maybe we had lost, but we didn’t.”
Jose has ridden J Fire Up in each of her 7 starts, and they have never been worse than second. Second in a maiden race, they won their trial for the Ed Burke Million Futurity and then finished second in the Grade 1 finals. They haven’t lost since, which also included a win in the Governor’s Cup Futurity-RG2.
Gomez previously won the Golden State Million Futurity with Romeo Ryon in 1998, Higher Fire in 2005, and
Jess You And I in 2006. That feat ranks 2nd only to Blane Schvaneveldt’s record of 6 Golden State victories. Gomez bred J Fire Up in California from his homebred This Boogie Fires, who has produced 4 start- ers/winners. Gomez trained This Boogie Fires, who finished
3rd in the 2011 Kindergarten Futurity-G1.
EG High Desert Farms’ homebred Matilda Czech (Fast Prize Cartel-Short Czech) finished
2nd under Cruz Mendez for trainer Valentin Zamudio. Parsons Ranch’s homebred A Political Lady (Apollitical Jess-Another Wise Lady)
ran 3rd under Eduardo Nicasio for trainer Christopher O’Dell. Chance To Fire (Walk Thru Fire-Elans Last), Black Fryday (Favorite Cartel-Ruths Chris) & The Revenant (Favorite Cartel-Remember Me Rose) finished 4th, 5th, & 6th. Call Me Cole (Corona Cartel-Little Surfer) & Famous N Hot (One Famous Eagle- Sizzling) dead-heated for 7th. Remember To Dash (First Down Dash-Remember Me Rose) & Unblemished (Foose-Without Fault) followed.
Los Alamitos $904,850 • 400 yards :19.854 • si 90
Corona Cartel
Kiddy Up
Miss Racy Vike
J FIRE UP, ’15-f.
Walk Thru Fire
This Boogie Fires
Boogie Special
J Fire Up (#2) & Jose Nicasio win the $904,850 Golden State Million Futurity by a nose.
SPEEDHORSE, December 2017 153
RACING NEWS
Los Alamitos