Maiden King

Coming into the race, jockey Garrett Gomez had won on eight of the last 13 horses he rode for trainer Jeff Mullins.

Now, you can make it nine of 14.

In his debut race on Dec. 28, Mullins’ #6 Hasty Trend lagged toward the rear as rider Pedro Arambula was restraining the animal. Hasty Trend made a nice run that day in the stretch to finish up well.

But on Thursday, Gomez had Hasty Trend in the race from the opening bell. He ran beside speedster #1 Rochelle’s Jimmy before taking over in the stretch. 

I planned to bet Hasty Trend at 2-to-1 or better, but horse players love betting Gomez and they hammered him to 6-to-5. 

So I switched to plan B, which was to bet #1 Rochelle’s Jimmy who set the pace at 22-t0-1 before finishing fourth; and #4 Coleville, who finished second at 7-to-2.

To watch a replay of this race, go to www.calracing.com.