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It’s no Longer an Event for Trainer Julie Gomena
It’s no Longer an Event for Trainer Julie Gomena
By Chip Newcomb
You can say that horses aren’t in steeplechase trainer Julie Gomena’s blood, they’re in her soul.
She comes from a “totally un-athletic, un-horsey family,” she said. But from a very young age, she fell in love with horses. “As a three-yearold, I would wander into the next door neighbors’ paddock and watch horses.”
And nine years later, at age 12, Julie had her first riding lesson with instructor Julie Hook, a three-day event trainer in Oregon.
“I loved eventing,” she said, “and eventually decided I wanted to pack up my horses and move to the east coast and ride with Bruce Davidson.”
The year was 1982 and she thought she’d only stay for the summer. But she never went back. She and her husband, Robert Bonnie, own Over Creek Farm in Middleburg.
Gomena got her start through eventing, and that discipline used to be almost all thoroughbred horses, which is why she has an affinity for them.
“All my event horses had been brought off the track and I started them from scratch teaching them how to jump,” she said. “That’s always been the way I’ve done things.”
As eventing evolved into a shorter format, thoroughbreds fell out of favor and she decided to step away from the discipline. She had been galloping at Sunny Bank Farm near Middleburg for Mrs. (Dot) Smithwick, and “before I knew it, I was entered into the ladies Timber Race.”
She had promised her parents she’d never ride a horse in a race. And then she was entered in the Casanova Hunt point-to-point to point where she rode in the Ladies Timber event and had a blast.
“I didn’t say anything to my parents,” she recalled. “I think I finished third that day.”
At the next race meet, the Rappahannock Hunt point-to-point, she and Jill and Blair Waterman were riding in the ladies timber race. They all came to a fence at the same time. All three horses stopped, and all three women fell off. After getting back on, Gomena’s horse was the only one to jump the fence, and she won her first race.
After that win, “My picture was all over The Chronicle of the Horse, which my parents got.” And her secret was out.
Julie went on to win the 1994 Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event at the Kentucky Horse Park with her horse, Treaty.
Though she doesn’t ride in races any more, she still gallops the racehorses she trains every day. She also enjoys fox hunting and riding her retired steeplechasers.
Gomena is greatly looking forward to the upcoming Virginia Gold Cup races on May 4, where she’ll have several entries.
“The top horses are there and it’s a lovely course,” she said.”The people love it. It’s a big deal.”
She also has an affinity for Glenwood Park and the Middleburg spring races on April 20.
“It’s a fun place to be, and it’s nice that you can see the whole course,” she said. “It’s a lovely venue, and a very good course.”
For information on Over Creek Farm, visit overcreekfarm.com
