FOR IMMEDAITE RELEASE                                       
      SEPTEMBER 12, 2009

CONTACT LOS ALAMITOS PUBLICITY
714-820-2690

JESS YOU AND I BREAKS 40 YEAR DRAUGHT FOR DEFENDING GO MAN
GO WINNERS

LOS ALAMITOS RACE COURSE, CYPRESS, CA... Double Bar S
Ranch'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. "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 match up 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. 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." 
         Owned by Felix A. Gonzalez and trained by Carlos De
Jesus Gonzalez, A Mere Splash earned $12,413 for his
dead-heat runner-up effort. A Mere Splash also ran second to
Freaky in the Vessels Maturity in his last start. Juan
Andrade was aboard A Mere Splash. Owned and trained by Jose
Antonio Flores, Hawk In The City also cashed in for $12,413
with his tie for second place. Hawk In The City has now
posted back-to-back second place finishes in top stakes
races, including a second to Freaky. In his last start, the
Hawkinson gelding was second to Freaky in the Spencer
Childers. Guillermo Suarez piloted the 4-year-old runner. 
   
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