Gary and Jeralyn Messenger’s homebred gelding Zoom On Jess scored his third consecutive victory following a strong finish to win the $15,000 The Plan Handicap for 2-year-olds at 350 yards Saturday at Los Alamitos.
Ridden by Eduardo Nicasio for trainer Monty Arrossa, Zoom on Jess was third at the start, but quickly began to shorten the early lead held by Cowboy State Futurity winner JR Prissys Blood. By the halfway mark, Zoom On Jess had taken command and from there he cruised to his fifth career win in seven starts. Sired by Jess Zoomin and out of the Messenger-bred mare Feature Miss Fame, Zoom On Jess has now won back-to-back stakes races. He entered this event after winning the Idaho Cup Futurity on July 24.
“He’s a homebred and we’ve been running him in Idaho,” Gary Messenger said. “He won four out of six down there with one of them being the Idaho Cup Futurity. He’s been at Los Alamitos for about a month now. We would have liked him here sooner, but he wasn’t in anything down here. This was a good race for him because we have him in the Wild West Futurity trials (on October 6). I was a little nervous because all the horses looked on paper like they had been running faster than he had. It was terrific bunch of horses.”
But none were better on this night than Zoom On Jess, the win being the cherry on the top of a nice visit to California for the Messenger.
“We just came down here for this race and we have to buggy on home in the morning,” the owner said. “We hadn’t done anything all summer so we thought, “hey let’s go down for the race” We love it down here. We’ve been coming to the sales since the days they had he sales in Pomona then Andreini/Schvaneveldt Sale and now the Los Alamitos Equine Sale. We are looking forward to the Wild West trials.”
The Messengers have owned and bred some nice horses over the year. The couple has enjoyed 86 wins and earnings of over $730,000. Zoom On Jess earned $7,920 for his victory in The Plan, a figure that takes his career record to $24,556. For the Messengers, they’ve several quality Quarter Horse performers. Their richest runner ever is their homebred Sold On Special, who earned $136,000 while winning the Dixie Downs Derby and Idaho Cup Derby. Go For Fame, a half-sister to Sold On Special is another Messenger-homebred. She won the Grade 2 Bank of America Northwest Championship Challenge while earning $122,228 in her career. On the breeding shed, Go For Fame has produced Feature Miss Zoom, who is Zoom On Jess’ dam, and stakes finalist Lajolla Famosa, who earned $104,461 on the track. Now that family appears to have produced another top runners in Zoom On Jess.
“We love it down here,” the owner added. “We’ve been coming to the sales since the days they had he sales in Pomona then Andreini/Schvaneveldt Sale and now the Los Alamitos Equine Sale.”
Martha Wells’ Old School Icon earned $3,240 after also flying late to finish second in The Plan. Erasmo Gasca piloted him for trainer Matt Fales. JR Stable’s JR Prissys Blood after bumping at the start. KVN Little Sister, Makn, Risky Moves, Goldie Hocks, and Chance To Be Valiant completed the field.
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