DEL MAR – Before the triumphs for Garrett Gomez came the fall.
Sixth race, one week ago today. Gomez had to make a crash landing on the Polytrack at Del Mar when his mount, Bella Dancer, decided to take a sharp left a short way out of the gate, sending Gomez airborne.
K.C. ALFRED / Union-Tribune
Jockey Garrett Gomez sits atop Go Between, whom he rode to victory in the Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Sunday.
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Replays show the hooves of a trailing horse narrowly missing Gomez's head on the swerve to get around him. They show Gomez bouncing up to almost a standing position, then collapsing to the ground and staying there as track and medical personnel rush to his side.
Gomez's agent, Ron Anderson, watching from the grandstand, got that feeling that is all too familiar to those close to a rider.
“I could see he went down kind of awkwardly,” Anderson said. “I was looking for him to get up and he didn't.”
Within a short time, Gomez was up and taking the ride to the track first-aid station. He assured Anderson he was all right and joked with track CEO Joe Harper about the bounce from a fall on Polytrack being different than one on dirt. He rode Hyperbaric to victory in the Harry F. Brubaker Handicap in the next race, then went on to win two $1 million races on opposite coasts, the Travers Stakes at Saratoga and the Pacific Classic at Del Mar, on Saturday and Sunday.
How close had the sixth-race incident been to disaster?
“I purposely don't go look at those replays,” Anderson said. “I don't want to know. It's counterproductive to me.
“At that point, I had a sense of relief. But you never know, sometimes when they go down like that something shows up the next day. They can be sore, they can find a fracture. There are a lot of things that can happen.”
The next morning, as planned, Gomez rode 2007 Del Mar Futurity winner Georgie Boy in a workout for trainer Kathy Walsh. Said he felt fine afterward.
“He's a real tough individual,” Anderson said of Gomez. “I've worked for him for over two years now and he's real durable and tough inside. I knew at that point, he would bite the bullet and get on with it. He knew the expectations. We'd been waiting for (last) weekend for quite a few weeks.”
Colonel John, Gomez's mount in the Travers Stakes, and Go Between, his Pacific Classic horse, had both been a little short on fitness in Hollywood Park races this summer, but had been training well and figured to be ready for big efforts.
And with Gomez providing expert guidance they both won, giving Gomez a lucrative bicoastal double.
“I've had more than one person tell me that they were superior rides,” Anderson said. “In the Pacific Classic there wasn't as much pace as we thought there would be and here he was eighth of 11 in the early part of it.
“If he panics at some point down the backstretch and puts the horse into a big, long run, he could flatten out (lose energy in the stretch drive). But he chose to bide his time and let the race unfold, then came running and got the win.”
The Travers was notable not only for Gomez's ride but also the narrowness of the victory over Mambo In Seattle and rider Robby Albarado.
“I thought, even looking at the replay before they showed it in super slow motion, that we were beat,” Anderson said. “He ended up winning by an inch and got probably the most fortunate head bob at the wire of all time to do it.”
One weekend, two $1 million wins, plus a $400,000 victory on Whatsthescript in the Del Mar Mile, one race before the Classic.
“You've got to be on the stock, but one little mistake can cost the race,” Anderson said. “There were plenty of decisions to be made in those races and he made the right ones. He's different. He seems to never make mistakes in these kinds of races.”
On Sept. 1, 2007, Gomez had 51 stakes victories en route to a record 76 for the year. The Pacific Classic was No. 51 of 2008, putting Gomez a week ahead of the record pace.
That Gomez is here this summer, instead of at Saratoga, where he has been the past two summers, is due to his desire to be closer to his ailing mother and his family in California.
“That was his decision,” said Anderson, former agent for Jerry Bailey and Gary Stevens among others, whose main residence is in New York. “He just came to me one day and said, 'I think we need to go back to Del Mar,' which kind of floored me.
“I almost think that we could have been the leading rider at Saratoga if we'd gone back there. The first week of the (Saratoga) meeting seven of the horses that I had calls on won. So we gave up a lot at Saratoga to come here.
“He just had a comfort zone that he wanted to come back here. He's never asked for anything since I came to work for him, so what was I to do? He's the one that signs the checks.
“I felt in my gut we were doing the wrong thing, but it has all worked out.”
Especially last weekend.
Hank Wesch: (619) 293-1853; hank.wesch@uniontrib.com
