JESS YOU AND I SETS GO MAN GO RECORD
LOS ALAMIOTS, CA—SEPTEMBER 28, 2008—The outstanding 2-year-old crop of 2006 continues to make headlines at Los Alamitos after three of its top graduates swept the top spots in the star-studded running of the Grade 1 $110,350 Go Man Go Handicap on Saturday at Los Alamitos.
Double Bar S Ranch's Jess You And I, the champion 2-year-old gelding in '06, scored his biggest victory since winning the Golden State Million Futurity when he outdueled by a neck millionaire No Secrets Here, the winner of the 2006 All American Futurity, while another member of that great class, Little Bit Of Baja, finished third.
Little Bit Of Baja, last year's champion 3-year-old gelding, was making his first start since running second in last year's Champion of Champions. Jess You And I, No Secrets Here and Little Bit Of Baja were followed across the wire by a pair of outstanding Ed Allred-owned sprinters in the 3-year-old Thinking First and 4-year-old Ten Oclock Scholar.
Ridden by Alejandro Luna and trainer Jaime Gomez, Jess You And I posted the fastest clocking in the 48-year history of Go Man Go Handicap after covering the 400 yards in :19.34. The previous record of :19.40 was set by the great two-time Go Man Go winner Whosleavingwho in 2005.
Jess You And I, a 4-year-old bay gelding by FEATURE MR JESS, also improved his record to nine wins from 17 starts while his Go Man Go earnings of $55,175 take his career earnings to $797,967.
"I knew this would be our night," said Dawn List of Double Bar S Ranch. "I just had a feeling that Jess You And I was going to do it tonight. For a while I thought we were done for the year because we've been sad about Carters Cartel. He'll be out three to six months due to a spider bite that affected his tendon slightly. Most likely we'll retire him and stand him next year, we just don't know exactly where. We don't want to take any chances with him. After that happened I figured it would be a quiet rest of the year but out of nowhere here comes Jess You And I. He has been a hard luck case. He doesn't like to be at the track, and he's had a couple of problems so we take him to the ranch and lay him up. We swim him and he seems to relax better at the ranch. He keeps his weight a lot better at the ranch."
Jess You And I won only two of seven starts during a sophomore campaign that included a second place finish in the Vandy's Flash Handicap and a third in the Southern California Derby and Sgt Pepper Feature Handicap.
"You can't give up on the champions," Gomez said. "After the trials to the Los Alamitos Winter Championship (in February) we gave him a break. He was off for three months then he came back with a pretty good race. He then ran a real good race (on August 24). This was his third race off the layoff. We just want him to keep doing well. This horse beat Blues Girl Too fair and square when they were 2-year-olds, so that shows you how good he can be. We've never operated on him."
Gomez explained that Jess You And I's biggest challenge might come in the recovery process after running a big race. "He gives you all he's got all at the time then it takes him a while to come back after a race. After he runs a big race, he's spent and begins to lose weight. That's the main worry with him. He likes to run fresh. I don't know what we're going to do next. I don't know if we're going to run in the Los Alamitos Invitational Championship or if we'll wait until the Z. Wayne Griffin Directors Trials. It'll depend on what happens with everybody else."
The Go Man Go Handicap does not offer an automatic berth into the $1 million Champion of Champions, but its winner does receive the first alternate spot should one of the original ten choose not to compete. In addition, if a horse wins more than one race carrying a Champion of Champions berth, then that berth reverts to the winner of the Go Man Go. With his Go Man Go victory, Jess You And I continued his streak of wins over All American Futurity winner No Secrets Here. Jess You And I has now posted three straight wins over his talented rival, a fact that did not escape the attention of Paul Jones, who trains No Secrets Here.
"He's been a hard horse for me to beat," Jones said. "I won't quit trying to beat him. I'm going to beat him one of these days. No Secrets Here ran an awesome race but Jess You And I was too tough. Look at how fast they ran, they weren't walking down through there. That just shows you how good these horses truly are. Jess You And I ran a heck of a race and you have to give him all the credit. He got us tonight."
The complete order of finish follows; Jess You And I, No Secrets Here, Little Bit Of Baja, Thinking First, Ten Oclock Scholar, Nofishinonafullmoon, Dicey Dee, Frankie Shoots, Corona Private Jet and El Corona Ariero.
