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“Before I know it, I had 14-15 horses,” said J.J. “The plan initially was to train out of Gonzales Ranch like my dad had done. But I couldn’t stay there because I had too many horses and I was getting better horses. I had to be at the tracks. From there it just went on and on.”
J.J. and his two oldest sons, James III and Sebastian now have close to 100 quarter horses in their stable. Included are 52 Quarter Horse yearlings that will be racing next Spring. All three are frequently on the phone with the 45 to 50 owners who have sent their horses to Gonzales Racing.
“If you win races, everybody wants to jump on the wagon,” says J.J. “Since we won the Mountain Top (Futurity) last year with Mr Innovator, I think we won 11 stakes races. All but the Four Corners were New Mexico bred races. This year we’ve won seven stakes races. I have a really good crew, starting with my owners, my jockey (Mario Delgado), my gallop boys, my grooms.”
One of those owners is Andy Rivera from Fort Stockton, Texas. His horse Mr Red White and Blue won this year’s Four Corners Futurity at SunRay.
Rivera says besides J.J.’s proven record as a trainer, he has great admiration for the Gonzales family.
“They are very family oriented,” said Rivera. “I’m a family guy and so our chemistry just kicked in. These guys have the same family values that I have.”
Texas rancher and farmer Rex Wells has been running Quarter Horses for 15 years. Again, the family dynamic factored into his sending his horses to the Gonzales stable.
“I really like his family,” said Wells. “I don’t know that he’s any better than anybody else, but he’ll tell you what the actual deal is with a horse. Whatever he says he’s going to do, he does”
Wells’ horses include Bigg Dee, who’s winnings total $475,000 and Colby James-- now retired--who earned $550,000.
The growth of the family’s training operation has boomed over the last two years and with it the bar of goals and expectations has been raised. The unmistakable and unabashed goal for J.J. is to someday be the first former All American Futurity winning jockey to reach that winner’s circle again as a trainer.
It’s an exacta that has never been done in the 63-year-history of the futurity.
“A lot,” says James when asked how much he thinks about it. “That would be the ultimate because no one’s done it.”
He came tantalizingly close three years ago as the replacement/trainer of record for Mr Riptide,
who finished second in the 2019 futurity.
And who keeps the home front running,
the financial end of the business in order and six males in the house well fed and healthy? Who makes sure the two youngest boys--
16-year-old twins Jesse James and Nathaniel- -get to football and basketball practices? Who occasionally goes along with James III and Sebastian on five-and eight-hour long drives to Lone Star Park in Texas and Zia Park in Hobbs? Who helps organize and cook spaghetti dinners for the Robertson football team the day before a game?
That’s Antoinette, the behind-the-scenes, under the radar, can’t-do-without-her MVP. The team mom for Robertson High sports is a team player at home.
“She’s the rock,” says her oldest son James III. “As she goes, our operation goes. She’s making it to the horse races on Saturday and Sunday, taking care of payroll on Monday and having prayer meetings on Wednesday.”
“We’re very lucky to have my wife,” says J.J. “She’s a great wife and a great mother.” And to think Antoinette’s knowledge of
horse racing on a scale of 1 to 10 was at zero when she met J.J.
Soon after they started dating, a brother of one of her friends mentioned that he had seen J.J. at the horse races.
Here’s a portion of how Antoinette remembers the rest of that conversation.
“I asked him where he had seen J.J.” says Antoinette.
“At the horse races, he rides horses,” the friend told her. “He’s a jockey.”
“So, I asked him (J.J.) are you a jockey? What’s a jockey? Between the volleyball match and Pizza Hut, he had somehow failed to mention that’s what he did for a living.”
The couple got married on April 30, 2005. Theirs has been a relationship of
love and loyalty, patience, and profound dedication to their children. They’ve beaten the analytics that say if you get together when you’re very young, the odds are against you growing old together.
Their marriage was at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church at Gonzales Ranch. It was everything J.J. had promised Antoinette when he asked her to be patient about setting a wedding date.
“She was ready, but back then, my finances weren’t too good,” says J.J. “I told her, I’m not going anywhere. I want you to have everything that you want. If you want flowers everywhere, I want to give it to you that day.”
J.J. delivered. The big day included six bridesmaids, more than 300 people at the wedding reception and several bouquets of
Matthew with Mr Innovator.
Sebastian & Bigg Dee.
Matthew & his parents signing with Highlands University Basketball.
32 New Mexico Horse Breeder