J J Zo Zo gives trainer Alcala first stakes victory with Irish War Cry Handicap
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J J Zo Zo switched back to turf and sprang an 11-1 upset in the $75,000 Irish War Cry Handicap on Sunday at Monmouth Park, giving trainer Cesar Alcala his first stakes victory.
“It’s a great feeling getting my first stakes win,” Alcala said. “I can’t say I was surprised. He has been training really well. He ran like he has been training. I thought he would show speed on the grass. I did not know it would be speed like the way he ran.”
Alcala, who saddled his first horse as a trainer in 2017, has put together a modestly successful string of horses at Monmouth and Delaware parks, winning 10 races in 92 career starts. J J Zo Zo, a stakes winner as a juvenile for trainer Jose Sanchez, emerged from Alcala’s stable as a 4-year-old earlier this year and finished well back in the $75,000 John J. Reilly Handicap against New Jersey-breds on dirt last month.
The gelding had lost his two prior starts by a combined 26 1/4 lengths, but in his first start against statebreds at a mile on turf, he weathered an early duel and kicked 3 1/4 lengths clear of heavy favorite There Are No Words at the wire. He paid $24.40 to win, giving Alcala his first victory since June 2023.
“Horses, when they are feeling good, they run good,” Alcala said. “He has been feeling good lately. I was not worried about the speed duel, even though they were going fast. I know my horse. We gelded him after his 3-year-old season. I think that has helped him settle down.”
Though he had never won on the grass in two prior attempts, J J Zo Zo ran one of the best races of his career when he finished second in the $85,000 Joey P. Handicap last September. That five-furlong sprint was different than the turf mile he tackled on Sunday, but he might have been even stronger with more distance.
In his first route attempt since the 2024 edition of the Grade 1 Champagne at Saratoga, J J Zo Zo went for the early lead and locked up with Gold Trust, chasing inside of the 8-5 second choice through an opening quarter-mile in 22.71 seconds. The two pulled well clear of the rest of the field of nine and were six lengths ahead by the time Gold Trust completed the half-mile in 45.87.
Gold Trust held a short lead on the backstretch while dueling on the outside of J J Zo Zo, but the taxing trip eventually took its toll. Jockey Charlie Marquez urged J J Zo Zo forward on the inside and managed to dispatch his front-running rival on the far turn. They were two lengths in front by the time they hit the stretch.
“I thought it was going to be a fast tempo up front and that I would sit behind it and get what I could get,” Marquez said. “But he broke so sharply we went on with it and stole it.”
There Are No Words, the 3-2 favorite coming off a game fifth in the $100,000 Cliff Hanger in open company, had finished in the money in three of the last four editions of the Irish War Cry. Trainer Chuck Spina thought his day might come on Sunday, but he never made up ground on the leader while stalking in third. He rallied for second without challenging the winner, finishing three-quarters of a length ahead of Anthony Margotta Jr.-trained longshot Spiritinthenight.
J J Zo Zo, who finished his front-running trip with authority, completed the mile distance in 1:36.61. In 2024, the then-juvenile turned heads when he won the $100,000 Smoke Glacken at Monmouth by 8 1/2 lengths. He may finally be realizing that early potential in statebred stakes company on a new surface.
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