Pondering Retirement, Jones Seeks His First Groupie Doll Win With Istan Council

For all the races he's won at his hometown track, trainer Larry Jones could be looking at his final shot to win one of Ellis Park's signature races, Sunday's $125,000 Groupie Doll Stakes at the Henderson, Ky., track.

Jones will saddle Brereton Jones' Istan Council in the mile race, which attracted an overflow field of 13 fillies and mares. The trainer long has pointed horses for the Groupie Doll, and its various incarnations that include being called the Gardenia and the Coca-Cola Handicap. Istan Council is among his starters, having finished third last year behind victorious Lady Kate and New Roo, both of whom return.

A native of Hopkinsville, Ky., Jones has considered Henderson home for most of his adult life. He started his racehorse ownership career at Ellis Park in 1980 and officially began training his horses in 1982, going 0 for 42 before winning a $2,700 maiden-claiming race at Ellis Park in 1983. Fast forward 1,184 wins and almost $55.2 million in purse earnings later, and Jones is strongly considering retiring. Or at least what passes for retirement for someone who only is comfortable sitting if it's in a saddle.

Of course, Jones retired once before, with his wife Cindy taking over the stable in 2010, and that lasted a year. But circumstances are different now.

Rick Porter, the Delaware car dealer and champion owner who supplied Jones with standouts such as Horse of the Year Havre de Grace and Kentucky Derby runners-up Hard Spun and Eight Belles, died in June. Also, the most recent of a sequence of serious injuries sustained during freak training mishaps has relegated Jones to his pony, frustrating the trainer who for decades got on all of his toughest racehorses.

“I figure we'll get through the Oaklawn meet this winter,” Jones said. “But I have had some owners call me, wanting me to take horses next year, and I've turned them down. I don't know if we have any stars in the barn right now. If some of these 2-year-olds turn out to be really good, I'm sure I'll try to see them through their career.

“Since Mr. Porter passed away, and we don't have as many horses for Governor (Brereton) Jones as we did, yeah, we'll probably go,” he said, adding a caveat, “I don't know if I'll ever quit. I own several horses myself. But we'll definitely get down to where I don't have to travel. I'm really getting tired of living out of a suitcase. We've done it for 40 years now, and very extensively for the last 25…. I don't know if I'll completely stop, because I've got a few broodmares, and I've got to do something with these babies. But basically Larry Jones will be on the ownership side of all of them.”

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Of course, being an owner requires a trainer. Jones was self-taught and didn't come up under anyone. In that regard, it's hard to imagine Jones having horses with somebody else.

“Well, that's what I was trying to think,” he agreed. “I can't find anybody that I really want. The last time I quit, I got that Cindy Jones to train for us. But she said she's not doing it anymore, either.”

In the meantime, he has Istan Council in the Groupie Doll, owned by former Kentucky Governor Brereton Jones (no relation), supplied Larry Jones with his three Kentucky Oaks winners. Istan Council comes into the Groupie Doll off a runner-up finish in the Iowa Distaff won by Josie, who also is in Sunday's stakes. Sophie Doyle, the regular rider of Larry Jones' Grade 1-winning filly Street Band, has the mount.

“In the Iowa Distaff, I think Josie had the perfect trip,” Jones said. “I think we had a very good trip. We jumped out, just laying just off the pace, and felt like we had the leader when we wanted her. Then here came Josie and made us start having to hustle up and go. And we still got the jump on Josie, and Josie ran by her down the lane. But she ran a nice race.”

Jones loves the Groupie Doll as a race, even though he also got beat in it last year with Street Band, who finished sixth in her career finale. He finished second in 2012 with Joyful Victory, who a few races later won a Grade 1 race at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif.

“I always wanted to try to have something for here,” Jones said. “This is still a very marquee race.”

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Grade 1 Winner Street Band Retired, To Be Offered In Fasig-Tipton November Sale

The connections of Grade 1 winner Street Band have announced her retirement from racing. She will be cataloged at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton November Sale.

Racing in partnership for Ray Francis, Cindy Jones, J. Larry Jones, Medallion Racing, and MyRacehorse.com, Street Band won five times in her career and she retires with earnings of more than $1.1 million.

“Street Band was a special filly for our barn. She had so much class to go with her Grade 1 talent. It's bittersweet to see her go, but we are proud that she proved herself to be among the best of her generation,” said trainer Larry Jones, who also bred the filly with Cindy Jones and Ray Francis.

A 7 1/4-length maiden winner at age two, Street Band would go on to win three graded stakes races by an average margin of three lengths in her career. Her most impressive win came in the $1-million Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx. In a field that featured four different multiple Grade 1 winners and an Eclipse Award champion, Street Band defeated the best fillies of her generation to win going away by 2 1/4 lengths. In winning the Grade 1 Cotillion, she handed multiple Grade 1 winner Guarana the only defeat in her career to this point.

Street Band won or placed nine times in her career, adding victories earlier in the year in the G2 Fair Grounds Oaks and G3 Indiana Oaks to her Cotillion score, along with a third in the Grade 1 Alabama at Saratoga.

Street Band hails from a family with success across the globe. She is the sixth winner from seven to race produced by Street Minstrel, a daughter of top-class broodmare sire Street Cry and a half-sister to two other stakes horses. Street Band's second dam is Minstrel's Lassie, herself a Grade 1 and French stakes winner, and a half-sister to Mintly, the granddam of two-time Australian Group 1 winner Manighar.

Phillip Shelton, manager of Taylor Made's Medallion Racing said, “Street Band took our Medallion partners on an incredible journey. She was our first Grade 1 winner, beating a star-studded field in the Grade 1 Cotillion. We will always remember her pulling her last-to-first charge to beat Grade 1 winners Guarana, Serengeti Empress, Bellafina, and champion Jaywalk. Thanks to Larry Jones and our partners Ray Francis and his family, Larry and Cindy Jones, and MyRacehorse.com.”

Taylor Made Sales Agency will consign Street Band to the Fasig-Tipton November Sale, which will be held immediately following the Breeders' Cup on Sunday, Nov. 8 at historic Newtown Paddocks in Lexington, Ky.

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