DEL MAR, Calif.— Jonathan Wong has been coming to Del Mar since 2015, not long after he started training. He has never done what he did Thursday. Wong won three races on a single card.
Winning in bunches is not new to Wong. He’s been a leading trainer up at Golden Gate Fields for the past few years. But making three separate trips to the Del Mar winner’s circle on the same day is new to him.
“We got lucky, the horses ran really well,” Wong said afterward. “I thought they all had a chance but I thought the horse in the first was our best shot.”
That would be Tommy Town Thoroughbreds’ Prayer for Jabeez, a 3-year-old gelded son of Stanford who rolled home much the best in the $16,000 claimer. He kept it going in the second race, a maiden special weight for 2-year-old fillies, with first-time starter Sally’s Sassy, another Tommy Town horse who drew into the race off of the also-eligible list.
“She had trained really well but I thought she wanted to go farther than five-eights,” Wong said. “But she got a perfect trip and he (Ricky Gonzalez) rode her great.”
Wong had to wait until the seventh race to complete the hat trick. Brent Mainstrom’s Cees Get Degrees wired the field of $32,000 claimers.
“Diego (Herrera) rode the hair off of that horse,” Wong said. “He rode him the whole way. That horse trained really good but he never showed up in the afternoon so that was nice to see him put it together.”
Wong says all three came out of their races in good order and will probably show up next at Santa Anita. The three win day vaulted Wong into a seventh-place tie with Mark Glatt in the trainer standings. He has eight victories from 36 starts at the meet.
Never one to rest on his laurels, Wong quickly looked forward to the next day’s card, “Maybe we can get three more today,” he said.
DMTC Press Release
Photo: Trainer Jonathan Wong (Benoit Photo)
