Occupation Trainer | Career wins 399 | |
Juan Paco Gonzalez (born March 17, 1945 in Yahualica, Jalisco, Mexico) is an American Thoroughbred horse racing trainer.
The fourth of six children, Paco Gonzalez grew up on a ranch near Guadalajara where his family owned Quarter horses. As a boy he was inspired to go into the Thoroughbred racing business by two older brothers who were jockeys at Agua Caliente Racetrack in Tijuana. In 1964, Paco Gonzalez followed his brothers north to California where he found work as a stable hand for trainer Joe Manzi under whom he would learn the business for the next twenty-five years.
Joe Manzi died in April 1989 [1] and Gonzalez took over as trainer of the stable whose clients included John Toffan and Trudy McCaffery, Canadian friends who raced as a partnership. For Toffan and McCaffrey and/or with other partners, the soft-spoken and reserved Paco Gonzalez enjoyed considerable success as the trainer of millionaire multiple Grade I winners Bien Bien, Free House, and Came Home.
Among other runners conditioned by Paco Gonzalez, Del Mar Dennis won three straight editions of the San Bernardino Handicap between 1994 and 1996. As well, the Gonzalez-trained filly Pacific Squall won the Grade I Hollywood Oaks in 1992.
Trudy McCaffery died in early 2007 and Paco Gonzalez continues to train horses on a smaller scale for John Toffan and wife, Cheryl.