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Jockeys like Gary Sumpter, Chris Zamora, Larry Chavez, Sam Thompson, the late Jacky Martin and G.R. Carter.
“A lot of them had ridden for mom and dad, especially Chris and Larry,” says J.J. “They told me, if you don’t work (hard), you’re not going to get anywhere. They never scolded me. They sat me down, watched races with me and showed me where I messed up. They showed me how to fix it.
I was very fortunate to ride with the jockey colony that I did.”
According to the American Quarter Horse Association, J.J. won 1,015 races in his 16-year riding career. Besides the All American, Gonzales also won the Rainbow Futurity twice (Leading Spirit) and (The A List), and the Rainbow Derby (Sc Chiseled In Stone). He finished second in the All American Derby one year with Awesome Form.
He won nearly every New Mexico bred futurity.
He retired in the fall of 2008 during the State Fair meet in Albuquerque. Again, his memory kicks in with the details.
“I remember it was September 12th and I was in Vegas (N.M.). I got up and called the jock’s room. I told Del Jessop (clerk of scales) I wasn’t coming in. He said, alright, I’ll see you tomorrow. I said, no, I won’t see you tomorrow. I’ll see you Friday. I’m going Friday to go pick up my tack. I’m done.”
J.J. says his body was telling him to retire in the months leading up to his decision.
“I had gotten hurt in February at Sunland (in a spill) and I was fighting my weight real bad.”
Antoinette overheard his conversation with Jessop and somewhat surprised asked J.J., “Did I hear you right?”
“Two weeks later I rode a match race for a friend and never rode again,” said Gonzales.
His transition to training came naturally. Again, his longtime ties to owners and trainers helped J.J. get started.
“Dickie Shearer brought me a Thoroughbred. I had ridden some of his Quarter Horses when he had them with (trainer) Blane Wood. Then Bobby Maes brought me some horses. I think I had five to start.”
His training career started at Sunland and when that meet ended, he applied for stalls at SunRay Park. At Farmington he and the thoroughbred J.J. Masquerade both broke their maidens when the latter won a 4 1/2-furlong sprint.
“I had six horses up there (SunRay) and we won four or five races,” recalls J.J. Several calls from interested owners followed.
By By JJ & J.J. Gonzalez after winning the All American Futurity.
“I was really nervous,” says J.J. “I had a bunch of my friends and family there. I didn’t want to disappoint my mom, my dad, anybody.”
His first win was aboard Lefty Malone,
a Quarter Horse trained by his dad. Gifted with an impressive memory, J.J. remembers Lefty Malone was in the No. 3 hole. So, did that first win get him hooked for good on the horses?
“Nah,” says J.J. “I was hooked when I was 11.”
J.J. reached the top of Quarter Horse racing’s ladder when he won the 2003 All American Futurity Aboard By By JJ. Two weeks earlier he had qualified two other horses for the All American finals, Dashin Kirk and Sixes Royal, but decided to ride the Juan Gonzalez’-trained By By JJ in the finals.
“Four of five days after the trials, I galloped all three of them and there was no doubt in my mind I was going to ride By By JJ,” says Gonzales. “Juan Gonzalez had that horse at the top of his game.”
J.J.’s only regret that day was that his dad
wasn’t there to celebrate it. James Sr. passed away from cancer five years earlier. He was 51. His mother still lives at the family ranch.
“I miss my dad because he was taken too soon,” says J.J.
You don’t get to the richest winner’s circle in Quarter Horse racing without taking some lumps and losses along the journey. And so, it was for J.J. The self-evaluation
of his riding skills early on in his career was simple and succinct.
“Let’ s face it, I sucked.”
But J.J. had two things going for him. In those early days of his career, J.J. had the luxury of riding horses that his dad trained, or friends of the family owned.
“I was pretty fortunate because my mom and dad knew people at the track. It was a lot easier to go and gallop horses in the morning and get mounts in the afternoon,” he said.
More importantly, J.J.’s personality and easy going demeanor made him a popular guy in the jock’s room. Some of the friends he made were among the most successful riders in the business and were happy to help J.J.
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