J J Zo Zo powers to Irish War Cry Handicap, gives Cesar Alcala first stakes win

J J Zo Zo turned a lively duel on firm turf into an 11-1 upset Sunday at Monmouth Park, drawing clear by 3 1/4 lengths in the $75,000 Irish War Cry Handicap and stopping the mile in 1:36.61. Charlie Marquez kept the 4-year-old New Jersey-bred within striking range from the break, and J J Zo Zo answered fast early fractions of :22.71 and :45.87 before finishing strongest in a field of nine Jersey-breds.

It was moved off Monmouth’s July 4 card after the meet was halted in a heat wave, then run on a firm lawn that made the setup especially tricky for There Are No Words, the heavy pre-race favorite. J J Zo Zo handled the conditions better than anyone. The Irish War Cry Handicap has now been run only seven times.

For Cesar Alcala, it was the first stakes win of his training career after he took over J J Zo Zo two starts ago. Alcala, who sent out his first horse in 2017, came in with 10 wins in 92 career starts and had not trained a winner since June 2023 before J J Zo Zo snapped that drought. Alcala said the gelding had been training well, and he also pointed to the gelding change after J J Zo Zo’s 3-year-old season as a step that helped the horse settle down.

J J Zo Zo had lost his two previous starts by a combined 26 1/4 lengths, but he bounced back on a surface that fit him better than dirt ever had. He won the Smoke Glacken Stakes on dirt as a 2-year-old, and this was his first race around two turns. The horse is now 4-for-13 in his career, with earnings of $205,380, and he was foaled March 17, 2022, by Sea Wizard out of Lost Princess, owned and bred by Jose A. Garcia and Jose Armando Garcia. He’spuregold won it the year before for the fifth straight time.