Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Jones to stay local for summer
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Over the past four years, trainer Larry Jones would only stick around Churchill Downs in the spring through Derby week – perhaps winning a Kentucky Oaks along the way – before heading east with his stable to Delaware Park.
This late spring and summer brings change for him. A Hopkinsville, Ky., native, Jones has chosen to stay put in Kentucky, though he has not ruled out shipping to Delaware for races.
In the meantime, he has horses to race at Churchill, including Astroll in the park in Thursday evening’s seventh race, a $59,000 second-level allowance that serves as the feature.
Coming off a trio of competitive tries in similar races this year in Arkansas and Kentucky, she fits based on form if she can last the seven-furlong distance. In three previous attempts at the trip, she has run fourth, fifth, and sixth, though Jones believes her losses in those races were the result of facing stakes company, not an inability to stay the distance.
“She can get seven furlongs,” he said. “She’s a half to Hard Aces. He won at a mile and a half.”
Twice, in fact. Hard Aces, a son of Hard Spun who now stands at stud in Louisiana, won at 1 1/2 miles in the Cougar II Handicap in 2016 and then last year in the Tokyo City Cup, both in California. He also took the Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita in 2015 going 1 1/4 miles in the most significant victory of his career.
Astroll in the park, a 4-year-old daughter of Divine Park owned and bred by Dreamchaser Thoroughbreds, is a stakes winner in her own right, albeit at six furlongs, having won the Austintown Filly Sprint at Mahoning Valley in near wire-to-wire fashion in 2017.
This year she has settled more early in her races, which Jones believes will help her stretch out to seven-eighths, particularly under jockey Florent Geroux, who has a return call on Thursday.
“He can get her to go back without a fight,” he said.
Geroux and Jones have a winning history together. Geroux was the regular rider aboard the Jones-trained I’m a Chatterbox during her Grade 1-winning campaigns in 2015 and 2016, including when she was third in the 2015 Kentucky Oaks behind winning stablemate Lovely Maria.
Lovely Maria is one of three Jones-trained winners of the Kentucky Oaks, all of whom raced for former Kentucky Gov. Brereton Jones, with the others being Believe You Can in 2012 and Proud Spell in 2008.
Jones does not have any horses of that quality in his 28-horse stable, though he does appear to have one that appears soon destined for graded stakes – Stave, a 3-year-old Ghostzapper filly who took an allowance on the Churchill Downs turf Saturday for her second consecutive win.
The Grade 3 Regret at Churchill Downs on June 16 is under consideration for her next start.
Honorable Duty turns it around
Graded stakes winner Honorable Duty, who was pulled up in the Grade 1 Clark in November after a last-place finish in the Fayette in October, returned to form by winning a $61,000 allowance Sunday at Churchill.
He seemed like his old self on Sunday, enjoying a perfect trip in the day’s second race after the expected front-runner, Conquest Windcity, reared at the break. This allowed Honorable Duty to cruise easily up front before leaving his opponents behind under limited urging from jockey Corey Lanerie. He finished 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.34, earning a 94 Beyer Speed Figure.
“It was a great to give him a bit of confidence like that, you know, after last year, with a couple of bad runs,” said trainer Brendan Walsh.
Though it ended on a sour note, Honorable Duty experienced a breakout year in 2017, winning three graded stakes and placing in two others while earning $618,520. Among his highlights was a victory in the Grade 2 New Orleans Handicap, as well as a runner-up finish behind Gun Runner at Churchill Downs in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster, a race for which he will be considered again this year, Walsh said.
The 2018 Stephen Foster, which carries a $500,000 purse, is the centerpiece of a fives takes card the evening of June 16 at Churchill. The race is also a possible target for Backyard Heaven and Hawaakom, the one-two finishers in the Grade 2 Alysheba Stakes on Oaks Day at Churchill Downs.
Less than a week after the Stephen Foster, Walsh is likely to have a starter in another prestigious race – Beckford in the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup June 22 at Royal Ascot.
Winner of the William Walker at Churchill Downs April 28, Beckford breezed a half-mile in 48.80 seconds Sunday morning around the dogs over the Churchill Downs turf course. He will fly overseas from Indianapolis on June 12, Walsh said.
Also expected to be on that flight is the Tim Glyshaw-trained Bucchero, who also breezed at Churchill on Sunday, going a half in 51 seconds on the grass. He is being pointed to the Grade 1 King’s Stand, a five-furlong dash June 19. The Keeneland-based Lady Aurelia won the 2017 running and is one of the pre-race favorites for this year’s renewal.
◗ Beginning Wednesday, Churchill will offer a reserved training time of 7:30-7:40 a.m. daily for horses pointing to the Belmont Stakes – and most eyes will be on Justify as he readies for a bid to win the Triple Crown. The Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner returned to Churchill Downs on Sunday after flying back from Maryland.
◗ Saturday’s Grade 3 Winning Colors at six furlongs on dirt and the ungraded Keertana at 1 1/2 miles on turf are both expected to have short fields. Brave Daisy, Golden Mischief, Miss Kentucky, and Treble are listed as probable starters by stakes coordinator Dan Bork for the Winning Colors, with a few others possible to join them, while the Keertana is expected to draw Araminta, Creative Thinking, Daring Duchess, Galilea, and La Manta Gris.