Dak relaxes in the days prior to racing in the Cox Ranch Distance Challenge Championship.

© Richard Chamberlain

By Richard Chamberlain

GRAND PRAIRIE, TX–OCTOBER 18, 2023–Sports fans in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex are watching for the next big score by Dak.

No, not that Dak. On Saturday evening at Lone Star Park, James J. Gonzales III will send out two starters in the Bank of America Racing Challenge Championships, Dak in the $100,000-estimated Cox Ranch Distance Challenge Championship (G1) and Vytaliti in the $100,000-estimated Q-Racing Video Distaff Challenge Championship (G1).

Gonzales is the 27-year-old son of jockey-turned-trainer J.J. Gonzales II, who won the All American Futurity (G1) aboard champion Royal Quick Dash.

"Our names our identical," the younger Gonzales says. "We're both James Julian Gonzales – Dad is JJ second and I'm JJ third. I take the horses to all the tracks except Ruidoso, where my Dad runs them in the summer. The rest of the year, Dad stays home with the mares and babies at our place in Slaton, Texas. Our family also has a ranch at Las Vegas, New Mexico, where we run cattle."

Now III is ready to run Dak. Bred by Bullard Farms of Weatherford, Texas, the 7-year-old gray gelding has banked  $454,981 as the highest-earning progeny by Dominyun ($336,180), who has sired the earners of more than $5.7 million. Owned by Bobby Cox, the 15-year-old Dominyun stands at Cox Stallion Station at Kaplan, Louisiana. Dak is one of two starters, both winners, out of the winning Fishers Dash mare Fleet Ellis ($27,416).

Acquired as a yearling by Blue Star Racing of Midland, Texas, Dak has a record of 30 – 9 (5) – 7 (5) – 1 (1). The gelding has won three of six races this year, including the Remington Distance Challenge (G2), and also finished second in the Pauls Valley Stakes (G2) and was third in the Remington Park Distance Championship (G1). He comes into the Distance Challenge Championship off a 3 3/4-length score in the Bill Reed Memorial Stakes on September 2 at Ruidoso Downs.

"We got Dak earlier this year," Gonzales says. "Around the barn, Dak is very calm and relaxed, just a big, gentle giant. But you get him on the racetrack and he gets a little ornery and likes to show off a little bit. He gets to the paddock and he can be quite a handful. He's a little tough to saddle at times. It almost seems like the more wound up and pumped up he gets in the paddock, the better the race he gives you. We've learned just to stay out of his way, not fight with him and let him do his thing, and he'll do the rest of it on his own.

"That said, Dak's easy to handle," he says. "He'll let you do whatever you want with him. He has no bad habits, he just likes to play and be a little ornery at times. He wants you out of his way, but when it's time to get to business, he's all business. We've run him twice off big layoffs, and that's when he's run the best for us, so we like to keep him fresh.

"Dak's been a pleasure," Gonzales says. "He loves his job. He's a professional and horses like him make our job easy."

Then there's Vytaliti, a 4-year-old sorrel mare by Mr Jess Perry. Bred by multiple AQHA Champion Breeder Bobby Cox, Vytaliti is one of four stakes winners and six other winners from 10 starters out of the winning First Down Dash mare Zynergy ($42,326), who has produced the earners of more than $494,000.

Vytaliti was acquired in November 2022 by Victor Diaz of Sunland Park, New Mexico.

"It's kind of the same deal as Dak," Gonzales says. "We got her a month or so before Ruidoso ended, and it's been a little bit of a learning curve with her. She's got a little bit of a spicy attitude, she'll pin her ears and act like she doesn't want to be caught, but that's her attitude more around the barn and in the stall. Everywhere else, she's really professional."

An earner of $134,670, Vytaliti has a career record of 15 – 6 (1) – 1 – 2 (1). The mare lit the board in the Dr. Glenn Blodgett Stakes on opening weekend at Lone Star and comes into Saturday's Championship off a three-quarter-length score in the September 29 Lone Star Distaff Challenge.

"We've run her twice," Gonzales says. "In the gate, she can act up a little bit. That was something we had to learn. We schooled her and ran her in that first stakes and she ran fifth, but she threw a little fit in the gate and probably cost herself a better placing, if not the win. We regrouped, did some equipment changes, took the flipping halter off, took the blinkers off, put a hood on her. She's still a little ornery in the gate, but not as bad, and she left running that night in the second race and has never looked back.

"The longer I've had Vytaliti, the more she's adjusting to the program and the more I'm learning about her," Gonzales says. "I think she's moving forward in the right direction."
 

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