LOS ALAMITOS : Trainer Gomez Doubles Pleasure in Trials for Kindergarten Futurity

Friday’s Kindergarten Futurity trials put to rest any fear trainer Jaime Gomez had of suffering a sophomore jinx.

Gomez, 41, started two horses in the trials, No Apologies Needed and Pies Prince, and both qualified for the $100,000 Kindergarten Futurity, a 350-yard race for 2-year-old colts and geldings on June 25.

No Apologies Needed won the first trial, and Pies Prince finished second in the other. No Apologies Needed and Pies Prince are owned by Jesus Molina of Mexico, who purchased them at a yearling sale in New Mexico last summer for $5,000 and $15,000, respectively.

The colts spent the winter with Gomez at his ranch in Murrieta, but by spring had gone different ways. No Apologies Needed was sent to Arizona; Pies Prince joined Gomez’s 20-horse barn at Los Alamitos.

No Apologies Needed ran in trials for two futurities on the Arizona county fair circuit, but failed to qualify for either. He won a trial May 1, but didn’t run fast enough to join the eight-horse field that qualified for the final. Gomez said the colt was suffering from an abscess at the time and also wasn’t helped when the jockey eased him in the final yards of the winning race. In the process, the colt slowed enough to miss the final.

The same thing did not occur on Friday night. John Creager, who was aboard No Apologies Needed for the first time, guided the colt to a neck victory in the 350-yard race and a winning time of 18.13 seconds.

“I think he’ll do better next time because this was his first start at night,” Gomez said. “I think he was a little green at the start. (Creager) told me that he did not break like he’s capable of. I like him. I think he’ll be better than that.”

Last June, Gomez began training his own horses at the track and along the way picked up other horses. His first try at stakes races were a tough initiation. A colt he co-owned, In A New Yorksecond, failed to qualify for the Dash For Cash Futurity and a thoroughbred, Rowd E Companion, was eased in the stretch of the 870-yard Gold Rush Derby.

Before the end of the year, however, things turned around. Last winter, he tied for 12th in the trainer standings, but more importantly won 19% of the races he entered.

Gomez, who was born in Mexico, has lived in the Southland since he was 15 and has spent his adult life involved with racehorses as a backstretch worker, bloodstock agent, ranch trainer and now a racetrack trainer. Training at Los Alamitos has enabled Gomez to fulfill a lifelong dream that began 20 years ago on the backstretch.

His father, who now lives in Gardena, trained horses for match races in Mexico. Gomez says Mexican match racing is on the decline and that more Mexican owners are seeking better avenues to run their horses, which means horses purchased at sales have a chance of staying in America rather than venturing south.

Gomez has attracted owners from both sides of the border.

“You see a lot of Mexicans buying horses (at the sales),” he said. “They call me and say they want a baby (yearling) for X amount of dollars. I’ve got a lot of customers.”

The main competition for Gomez’s duo is Kid Gris, the other trial winner. Kid Gris is a full-brother to champions Apprehend and Griswold, two of the top horses at Los Alamitos in the last few years.

Owned by Legacy Ranch, Kid Gris finished third and second in his first two starts in 300-yard races in May at Los Alamitos. In the 350-yard trial, he was bumped at the start, but rallied in the final yards to beat Pies Prince by a neck.

“(Jockey Henry Garcia) did a super job,” trainer Daryn Charlton said. “Kid Gris is just like his big brother, the longer the race, the better he gets.”

Only 18 horses entered the Kindergarten trials and the 10 fastest qualified for the final. Saturday’s Miss Kindergarten Futurity trials for 2-year-old fillies was better received; 29 horses ran in four trials. In both cases, the interest in the Kindergarten, and 2-year-old racing on the West Coast, has decreased in recent years. In the early 1980s, for example, the purse frequently topped $500,000. This year, each race carries a purse of $100,000-guaranteed for the Kindergarten and Miss Kindergarten.

Several factors, including a decline in the number of 2-year-old quarter horses, better prize money for older horses, and the emergence of futurities in Texas, Oklahoma and Utah, have contributed to the decrease.

Bret Layne saddled one horse in each night of trials. On Friday, Pappys Esau finished third behind Kid Gris, but was disqualified and placed eighth for interference. He was timed in 18.35 seconds, but was given a time of 18.77 seconds, which was one-hundredth of a second slower than seventh-place finisher Cool Secret. As a result, Pappys Esau lost a spot in the final.

Saturday’s trials were a much brighter note for Layne. He saddled The Money Crunch, who not only won her trial, but set the fastest qualifying time for the June 26 final. The Money Crunch won by three-quarters of a length under Bruce Pilkenton, the largest winning margin in the Miss Kindergarten trials.

The Money Crunch is owned by Margaret Leard, who also bred the filly. The Money Crunch is a half-sister to My Escalon, a 5-year-old gelding whom Layne currently trains in Northern California. My Escalon has placed in several stakes in the past, but is best known as the gelding who finished first in the 1991 Los Alamitos Derby, but was disqualified and placed 10th when one of his reins broke and jockey Jim Lewis lost control of the horse. My Escalon drifted out dramatically, causing a chain reaction of interference. No one was injured.

“Maybe she can redeem her big brother,” Layne said.