LOS ALAMITOS, CA— May 8, 2015—Eulices Gomez was involved in a serious riding accident in a 4 ½ furlong Thoroughbred race in the third race on June 13, 2014. The spill left him with a painful list of injuries. Gomez suffered a broken clavicle, four broken ribs, a broken pelvis, and two fractured lumbar vertebrae. A 3½ inch scar below his neckline is a reminder that his clavicle now features seven screws and is protected by a steel plate. And yet only 11 months later the now 30-year-old rider sat by his locker in the jockey room, a smile on his face while his fellow riders were throwing a few wisecracks his way after he had just picked up his third Quarter Horse win on Friday at Los Alamitos.

“Eulices you can thank me for working that 2-year-old for you in the morning,” said a fellow rider. “That’s right,” Gomez responded. “When you worked him he went :12.6, but when I worked him he went :12.1.”

“I missed the camaraderie of the jock’s room when I was injured,” Gomez said. “You spend your entire life being active, working hard, and staying fit, and then you get injured like I did and you go from being active to a complete stop. It was a nine month forced vacation and it was rough. I needed a lot of help to do just about everything. I was like a child. I was fortunate to have the help of my parents, siblings, family members, and my girlfriend. They all pitched in to help during my recovery. I have a lot of people to thank.”

The injuries forced Gomez to miss the remainder of the 2014 season, as he underwent months of rehabilitation. He returned to action aboard an Ed Allred-owned filly named Too Gabby on March 28 for trainer James Glenn, Jr. and just three mounts into his comeback Gomez picked up his first win aboard Allred’s Deceptive on March 29.

Gomez had shown other moments of brilliance this season, like when he piloted the Charles Treece-trained 2-year-old Romantic Fire to a gutsy maiden victory on April 17 or when he guided the Scott Willoughby-trained Ready Red to a solid third place finish and a qualifying spot in next weekend’s Kindergarten Futurity final. But the jockey was clearly at his best on Friday. His first victory came aboard Linda Cannon’s Hot Thot in a maiden race. He secured a riding double after guiding Allred’s Looking Up to victory for trainer James Glenn, Jr. The icing on the cake came in the evening’s seventh race, as Gomez teamed up with Chuck Stojan’s highly regarded filly Toughie to win impressively at 300 yards. Treece joined Eulices in the winner’s circle after saddling both Hot Thot and Toughie on Friday night.

“I can’t thank people like Charles Treece and Jimmy Glenn enough and of course the owners of these horses enough for giving me these opportunities,” said Gomez, who doubled his Quarter Horse win total for the season from three to six wins after his Friday night exploits. “I was pretty excited about these babies coming into tonight and I am so happy at how things worked out. Charles Treece has been great to me and Jimmy Glenn has been a huge mentor. Jimmy has helped me become a better rider and he’s taught me a lot about life in general. He’s stuck with me when no one else would. I owe him a great deal as well as Dr. Allred, who has giving me the opportunity to ride his horses.”

His riding triple on Friday evening could be proof that big things are still to come for the jockey in 2015.

“It’s a process, but I do feel that things are starting to come together,” Gomez said.

Courtesy of www.losalamitos.com.