JESS YOU AND I BREAKS 40 YEAR DRAUGHT FOR DEFENDING GO MAN GO
LOS ALAMITOS, CA — SEPTEMBER 12, 2009 — Double Bar S Ranch, LLC's Jess You And I did not have history on his side going into the Grade 1 $89,189 Go Man Go Handicap on Friday at Los Alamitos. But so what, the three-time AQHA champion still posted a memorable race.
With 40 years having passed since Go Derussa Go won back-to-back Go Man Gos, the odds appeared to be stacked against Jess You And I duplicating the rare feat.
But the even money favorite was simply too much for the competition, as he won his second straight Go Man Go in wire-to-wire fashion while breaking his own stakes record to boot. Ridden by Alejandro Luna for trainer Jaime Gomez, Jess You And I covered the 400 yards in :19.291 to better his previous stakes record by more than 1/10ths of a second.
"I was just a little baby when Go Derussa Go won her Go Man Gos," said Dawn List of Double Bar S Ranch, LLC. "This is so exciting to see Jess You And I win this race again. I'm shaking with excitement right now."
The money is also really piling up for the son of FEATURE MR JESS, as the $45,975 he earned in the Go Man Go lifted his career earnings to $1,320,786. Jess You And I won the Go The Go by a half-length over A Mere Splash and Hawk In The City, who dead-heated for second place. JP Rhythm, Checker, Trisk, Separate Bet, and Bannow Bay completed the field.
Jess You And I's win also means that the Z. Wayne Griffin Directors Trial will have at least two berths available to this year's Champion of Champions.
Jess You And I already had a berth to the Champion of Champion coming into the Go Man Go thanks to his victory in the Los Alamitos Winter Championship earlier this year. His win here opens up an extra spot in the Z. Wayne Griffin. Next in line for Jess You And I could be the Robert Boniface Los Alamitos Invitational Championship on October 10.
"The horse will tells us if we should run him in the Los Alamitos Championship," Gomez said. "We'll give him two to three days and then we'll see what happens."
"Jaime will not do anything that is not right for the horse," List added. "I kept asking Jaime how the horse was doing coming into this race and he kept telling me, 'he's doing great Palomina - that's what he always calls me - he's doing great.'"
The Robert Boniface Los Alamitos Invitational Championship could deliver a sensational matchup between Jess You And I and Vessels Maturity and Spencer Childers California Breeders Championship winner Freaky.
The latter has posted two track records at 400 yards this season and one track record at 350 yards. This clash of titans would be the biggest match-up in Quarter Horse racing since Snowbound Superstar and Gone To The Mountain met in the 870-yard Remington Park Distance Championship.
"Sooner or later we'll have to face Freaky," Gomez said. "It could happen in about a month."
"We would love to see Jess You And I face him," List added. "It would be fun."
At the end of the rainbow for Jess You And I is the Champion of Champions, where the reigning champion aged horse and champion aged gelding will also look to repeat following his track record setting win in that prestigious $750,000 race last year. Freaky is also in the Champion of Champions, but after his Go Man Go repeat would anyone bet against a Jess You And I repeat in the Champion of Champions?
"He broke like a bullet in the Go Man Go," Gomez said. "Luna said that when the horses came after him, he found another gear. I was a little worried that he would get tired because we had not raced him since the Winter Championship in February. Last year when he won the Go Man Go he came into the race after a 220-yard race, but this time we did not race him right before the Go Man Go. To see him finish so strong really impressed me."
In between his win in the Winter Championship and this victory, Jess You And I enjoyed a nice vacation at Double Bar S Ranch, LLC. And whenever Jess You And I comes back after a stay at the Moreno Valley ranch, he returns tough as nails.
"(Ranch Manager) Jerry Young babies him and spoils him," List added. "He won't say that, but don't let him fool you, he spoils this horse. When Jess You And I is at the ranch, Jerry does not let him out to the big pasture. He keeps him in a small paddock and little by little he lets him out to the big pasture. He came back from the ranch and looks great here at the track. I was taking photos of him in the saddling paddock tonight because he just looked great. I think with age he is able to readjust quickly after he comes back from the ranch. He knows the program that Jerry and Jaime run and he is just a professional horse."
The now 5-year-old gelding improved his career record to 12 wins in 21 career starts, pretty much racing against the top Grade 1 type horses his entire career. He has become such a special horse for the Double Bar S that the racing operation found it hard to let his younger sister go at this year's Ruidoso Yearling Sale.
"We bought her back for $70,000," List added. "Her name is Pushing Daizies. We also bought back a full sister to Rieda Hay Worth named Worth While."
Completing the field were A Mere Splash, Hawkin In The City, Jp Rhythm, Checker, Trisk, Separate Bet and Bannnow Bay.
