Gonzalo Bocanegra

It just seems like every racing program at Los Alamitos nowadays features at least one horse currently owned or previously campaigned by young owner Gonzalo Bocanegra, a 32-year-old construction worker from Long Beach, California. Bocanegra has started 22 horses so far this season, the eighth highest figure among Quarter Horse owners at the Orange County oval. Last year, he was the meet's 8th leading Quarter Horse owner with 15 wins from 74 starters. Only eight other racing entities started more Quarter Horses at Los Alamitos than Bocanegra in 2007. Bocanegra's would admit that his stock lacks quality but his band of runners more than makes up for it with its quantity.

    "I like to have a lot of horses running all the time," said Bocanegra, while blanketed by his young son on one side and his brother and business partner, Uriel Bocanegra, on the other. "I like low priced claimers, older horses, with some history behind them. I'll buy these horses and we'll try to see if we can win at a higher price tag. If we can make some money with them, that's great, if not then I still love the fact that I can compete in a lot of races and have a fun time watching my horses run."

   Bocanegra recalls his days growing up in Mexico, where he would tag along with his father, Jose Bocanegra, to visit the Quarter Horse races. "My dad always had horses in Mexico and I "My dad always had horses in Mexico and it was something that I easily started to fall in love with."

   In 1990, the Bocanegras visited Los Alamitos as a family in what turned out to be an evening that Gonzalo would never forget. "My dad was running a horse at Los Alamitos in a pretty good claiming race. Our horse finished second but we celebrated nevertheless. It was so much fun. I always wanted to run a horse from then on."

   Gonzalo's father now lives in Zacatecas, Mexico, but he manages to keep up with Gonzalo's horses via TVG or whenever he travels to Caliente to enjoy the simulcast races.

   "I've had horses with people like Paul Jones and Jose Lomeli before I went to the barn of Hector Sanchez," Bocanegra explained. "Just being around Paul was a great learning experience. He's the best trainer, so it was great to be part of his barn when I started out. I have a great working relationship with Hector. He works hard and he's an up-and-coming young trainer. I often go to his barn and I clean my horse's stalls and help out around his barn. That's one of the things that makes it a lot of fun for me.

   Bocanegra has won two races while finishing in the money a total of 10 times this year, all while his horses go off at average odds of 12-1. "We've done well in some claiming stakes, including with Juno Dat Royal Honor, who did well at that level last year. My dream is to claim a horse for a cheap price and win a stakes race with him at Los Alamitos," he added. "I think with Hector as our trainer we can accomplish that one day."

   And that would surely be as much fun as that fateful visit to Los Alamitos in 1990.