Navarre making most of her opportunites

If the standard for judging training accomplishments is what you do with what you have, there might not be a better trainer in the country this year than Jacqui Navarre, who has won with seven of her 13 starters and will try to make it 8 for 14 when she sends out first-time starter Hey Wilmaaa in race 9 on Friday at Golden Gate Fields.

Navarre is down to just three horses in her barn right now, but she’s produced, and then some, with what she’s had. That has continued her under-the-radar success in recent years. She was 4 for 24 last year, 3 for 27 in 2018, and 4 for 13 in 2017, giving her a gaudy 23 percent strike rate (18 for 77) over the past four years.

“My thought is if they’re not picked one-two-three, they’re in the wrong spot,” Navarre said in a telephone interview.

Navarre, 51, has been on the racetrack her entire life. Her parents trained in Colorado, at tracks like Centennial and Arapahoe, and then Navarre set out for the Pacific Northwest about 30 years ago. She is married to former trainer Steve Fisher, who now works as a valet after medical issues forced him to give up training in 2017.

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The couple was based at Longacres, Yakima Meadows, and Emerald Downs, as well as Portland Meadows, before heading to the Bay Area eight years ago. Navarre always has worked as an exercise rider and gets on all her horses.

Hey Wilmaaa – named for how the cartoon character Fred Flintstone calls out to his wife – is a 4-year-old California-bred filly making her debut against open company in a five-furlong maiden race scheduled for turf. The $30,000 race, the last of the day Friday, is the richest on a fairly nondescript card that begins at 12:45 p.m. Pacific. Eleven are entered, including one also-eligible.

“I really like her,” Navarre said. “I didn’t want to run her first time on the turf. I’m hoping we get a torrential downpour and they take it off the turf. But either way I think she’ll do well. She’s a nice filly. I think she’s adaptable.”

Hey Wilmaaa has turned in a steady series of drills for her debut, with two of her last five works the best at the distance those mornings. Navarre said Frank Alvarado, who rides Hey Wilmaaa on Friday, “has worked her since Day One.”

Hey Wilmaaa was bred by Donna Jensen and is owned by her son, Eric. The Jensens own two of the three horses Navarre trains. Navarre said Hey Wilmaaa was injured in an accident at a farm when a yearling, which is what contributed to her delayed debut. It also might have changed her personality.

“She’s mean,” Navarre said. “But you can deal with it when they have a little bit of talent.”

Hey Wilmaaa is the only newcomer in the field. The speedy Sweet and Softly, twice beaten at short odds, looks like the one to catch.