Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association of New Jersey
by Bill Finley
With the New Jersey racing season about to come to an end, trainer Jose Sanchez is not sure yet where his star 2-year-old J J Zo Zo will run next. But after the son of Sea Wizard clobbered the competition in the Sept. 7 Smoke Glacken Stakes at Monmouth, Garcia isn’t afraid to run him anywhere or against anybody. Nor should be. J J Zo Zo was that impressive in the Sept. 7 Smoke Glacken Stakes at Monmouth, beating open company by 8 ½ lengths.
“He came out of the race in pretty good shape,” Sanchez said. “We are looking into options somewhere else, maybe New York, maybe Kentucky. Right now we don’t have a race in mind for him. We are looking into it. With him being so impressive in the (Smoke Glacken) we should be ok wherever we run him.”
From the first day the 2-year-old colt by Sea Wizard came into Sanchez’s barn, he knew he had a horse with speed and ability. But even he was surprised by the manner in which J J Zo Zo won the Smoke Glacken. He went straight to the front from the gate and widened his margin in the stretch in a race that was a mismatch.
“In his first race, he needed the race, so it didn’t surprise me that he got a little bit tired,” Sanchez said. “I was expecting him to break his maiden in his second start but he ran into some trouble. He just had some bad luck. The day he broke his maiden, he was impressive. He got passed in the stretch and came back to fight to get the win.
“But the talent was always there. Before I ran him the first time, he had a breeze where he showed a lot of speed. I breezed him with two other horses. He broke pretty fast. He went in 35 for the three-eighths and 47 flat for half mile. I realized then we had a horse with talent. But I didn’t know that he’d be this good. I was pretty confident he could break his maiden against Jersey breds and then maybe we could try stakes races. I was impressed by the way he won. Honestly, I thought he could win the race but not that impressively.”
Originally, Sanchez wasn’t interested in running in the Smoke Glacken because it mean that horses had to come back in 13 days. But when he saw the list of he nominations he did not see a horse he thought he couldn’t beat.
“I wasn’t going too run him until I saw the nominations and that there was nothing impressive among the nominees,” he said. “So I was excited to run him there.
J J Zo paid paid $3.60 and covered the six furlongs in 1:11.27. Fellow Jeresy-bred Royal Performance was fourth.
J J Zo Zo is owned by and was bred by Jose Garcia. He is one of only eight horses in Sanchez’s barn.
“I keep a small number,” he said. “I like to get my hands on all the horses. That’s the reason why I keep 10 or fewer.”
Sanchez knows what it’s like to be around a good horse as he was Skip Away’s groom for trainer Sonny Hine.
“I go all the way back to Sonny Hine and I was Skip Away’s groom throughout his career,” he said. “Since day one, when he got to the barn I was the only groom he ever had. “
Sanchez went out on his own in 2016 and says he still uses the lessons Hine taught him.
“Sonny was great. He was one of the old-time trainers,” Sanchez said. “I was young then but I learned a lot from him. I use a lot of his training methods. I’m doing a lot of what he did with this horse.”
That the sire Sea Wizard has produced another stakes winner was hardly a surprise. The lightly raced son of Uncle Mo who calls Pegasus Stud in Colts Neck home is clearly the best sire standing in the state. He’s had three crops get to the races and already has four stakes winners who have combined to win five stakes overall. He’s yet to have a graded stakes winner. J J Zo Zo might just change that.