Los Alamitos: Check My Thoughts gives his trainer a long-awaited victory

For more than 30 years, trainer James Glenn Jr. had been waiting for a race such as last Sunday’s Grade 1 Golden State Derby at Los Alamitos.

Glenn, 47, rode for seven years in the 1980s and has trained since then. He had not scored a big race win until Check My Thoughts ran a near perfect race in the $236,400 Golden State Derby. It was also the biggest career win for jockey Eulices Gomez, 27.

Glenn, who rode and initially trained in the Pacific Northwest, is based at Los Alamitos with a seven-horse stable.

“I trained a lot of years at home and won futurities and derbys,” he said. “I wanted to train more down here. Los Al is the big league.”

Owned by track chairman Ed Allred, Check My Thoughts won the Golden State Derby by a half-length over Do You Do Corona. A gelding bred by Allred, Check My Thoughts has won 4 of 10 starts and $168,618. The Golden State Derby was his first stakes win. He was third in the Los Alamitos Winter Derby in February.

Check My Thoughts was turned out in late winter and early spring. When he returned to Glenn’s barn in May, he was found to have a bruised foot.

The minor injury subsided in time for the Golden State Derby trials on Aug. 12. The next goal is the Los Alamitos Super Derby in November.

Three trainers suspended

Trainers Jose Antonio Flores, Sergio Sanchez, and Valentin Zamudio have been suspended for medication violations.

Flores was suspended for 180 days, with 150 days stayed, and fined $5,000, after Super Long Straw tested positive for methamphetamine after an eighth in the Ed Burke Million Futurity trials on June 10.

The majority of Flores’s suspension was stayed provided he has no medication violations in Classes 1, 2, or 3 through Aug. 19, 2013. The 30-day suspension began on Aug. 21 and continues until Sept. 19.

At a hearing, Flores told Los Alamitos stewards that six of his grooms recently tested positive for methamphetamine.

Sanchez was suspended for one year, through Aug. 15, 2013, and fined $10,000 after Alota Action, who finished second in the eighth race on May 11, tested positive for the banned stimulant phentermine.

Zamudio was suspended 60 days, from Aug. 15 to Oct. 13, and fined $3,000, after Bound to Split, the winner of the fifth race on May 27 tested positive for clenbuterol.