FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                       
 FEBRUARY 21, 2009

CONTACT LOS ALAMITOS PUBLICITY
714-820-2690

JESS YOU AND I SECURES RETURN BERTH TO CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS


LOS ALAMITOS RACE COURSE, CYPRESS, CA... It's fun when a
plan works to perfection. Just ask the connections of newly
crowned Los Alamitos Winter Championship winner Jess You And
I. Shortly after the now three-time AQHA Champion sprinter
won the prestigious $750,000 Champion of Champions on
December 13, owners Double Bar S Ranch, ranch manager Jerry
Young and trainer Jaime Gomez laid out a road map for Jess
You And I's return to the Champion of Champions.

"We decided to go after the Winter Championship trials,
hopefully the Winter Championship and if we won that race
then the Champion of Champions," Young said. "The plan
worked. It's not often that plans work in this business but
when they do it's a beautiful thing."

Ridden by Alejandro Luna, Jess You And I has now secured a
spot in this year's big race and will now try to become the
first horse to repeat in the Champion of Champions since
two-time World Champion SLM Big Daddy in 1998. Jess You And
I, a 5-year-old gelding by Feature Mr Jess out of the Tolltac
mare Gold Daze, scored a narrow head victory over My Lady
First in Saturday's $240,700 Winter Championship final. His
winning time of :19.38 was the second fastest time ever in
this stakes race, only behind last year's clocking of :19.34
set by A Stoli Mate. 

All the pieces have been falling into place for the
millionaire Jess You And I for quite sometime now. A winner
of the Golden State Million Futurity in 2006, Jess You And I
had a solid but unremarkable sophomore year. But he returned
with fire in his eyes in 2008, winning the Go Man Go Handicap
in late September before delivering the race of his life in
the 440-yard Champion of Champion. In winning that race, Jess
You And I defeated the 400-yard track record holder Little
Bit Of Baja while also setting a track record of his own in
the quarter-mile Champion of Champions. 

The plan now calls for a three-month break for Jess You And
I at Double Bar S Ranch.

"You can't keep him in the stall all year," Gomez said.
"We'll x-ray him and give him a week or so before we send him
home. He'll tell us when he's ready for his well-deserved
time off. He'll definitely go and rest. If everything goes as
planned, he'll be back here in three months. I'd like to give
him one or two races before the Champion of Champions."

Gomez swept both of the Winter Series events, as he also
saddled A Tempting Dash to victory in the $200,000 Winter
Derby. "What a weekend!" said the trainer. "Jess You And I
stumbled a little bit when he ran third in the trials to the
this race but he ran a good race. He caused all his trouble
on that night but I was confident that he would run a big
race in the final. The three weeks between races also helped.
I was so thankful that we had that type of time to rest and
prepare the horses."

The winning rider Alejandro Luna didn't have much time to
shake off a minor little injury that actually gave him a
scare on Friday night. Apparently, the jockey hit his
shoulder on the starting gate at the start of the Winter
Derby. "I don't know what happened but my shoulder felt numb
right away," Luna said. "I couldn't look back to see where
the other horses where. It was a good thing we won. I was a
lot better this morning and felt good galloping horses this
morning. I was a little concerned when (Royal Motions) got
fractious because Jess You And I started to want to break out
of the gate. He didn't break as sharply as he's capable of
doing but he really finished great. My Lady First ran a
strong race but I knew we had the race won all the way." 

"It's incredible what this horse has done," said Young of
the winner of 11 of 20 races and earnings of $1,274,811.
"When we started working with him I never thought he would
turn out to be this great of a horse. He was a late baby and
since we didn't think much of him he ended up missing all the
early futurities that year. It was also when castrated him
that he started showing us that he was special. He's had some
ups and downs but what horse doesn't? He's been amazing."

Jess You And I will arrive a hero at Double Bar S, a status
that's well deserved after earnings $101,094 in the Winter
Championship. Awaiting him will be an extra large stall
usually reserved for the top stallions at the Moreno Valley
ranch. "I wish we could figure out a way to make him a
stallion again," said Young with a laugh. "We'll try to see
if we can get that done while he's at the ranch. In reality,
we know that he probably (accomplished) all this because he
is a gelding."

Rancho El Alacran's My Lady First ran a superb race from the
far outside post 10 and for the second race in a row she was
a perfect lady in the starting gate. The daughter of First
Down Dash had her chances to act up, but she stay cool and
quiet and then gave Jess You And I a great chase for the big
prize. Ridden by Rodrigo Aceves for trainer Felipe Quintero,
My Lady First earned $40,919 to $373,789. A winner of eight
races in her career, My Lady First was third in last year's
Los Alamitos Winter Derby. 

Quintero was happy with the mare's performance but he was
still thinking of what could have been. "I can't beat that
horse," he said. "I've tried to beat with a couple of great
horses (Little Bit Of Baja and A Stoli Mate in the Champion
of Champions and now My Lady First) and he just winning. You
just have to give so much credit to Jess You And I. He's a
great, great horse. He's the type of horse that if you lose
to him, you still feel good about it because he's so great."

Quintero felt great about the behavior of My Lady First.
"We've been schooling her constantly," he said. "She sat
there for a couple of minutes tonight and she never moved.
When a couple of other horses get fractious, she was
perfectly fine."

Felix A. Gonzalez's First To Reach crossed the wire third
but was disqualified and placed sixth because he lugged out
and impeded a rival during the race. Eva Carrazco's JP Rhythm
was moved up to third place. Stylish Jess Br, Magic Show
Czech, First To Reach, Time For A Royal Dip, Value The Man,
Royal Motions and Short Czech completed the field.

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