Southlawn in Good Company with Stable Pony John Jones

A lithe, dappled bay daughter of Pioneerof the Nile, whose striking features and poetic stride make her easy to pick out on the main track at Churchill Downs, GI Kentucky Oaks contender Southlawn has certainly caught the attention of many leading up to her Run for the Lilies this Friday.

But what many may not know is that trainer Norm Casse's stable pony, who escorts the filly to and from the track each morning, is also a star in his own right, as he is none other than multiple stakes winner John Jones (Smarty Jones).

Bred in Maryland by Nancy Lee Farms, John Jones debuted as a 3-year-old at Pimlico for his breeder and trainer Ferris Allen. He continued on for those connections throughout his first 14 starts, picking up three wins along the way, until he was claimed for $25,000 by trainer Lacey Gaudet and owner Matt Schera at Laurel Park in July of 2016.

And it was there he'd stay for the rest of his racing career, quickly evolving from the stable's newest addition to a staple of the Gaudet barn, known well enough in Maryland as he was across the rest of the Mid-Atlantic circuit.

“His first race in the barn, when he won the [2016] Mister Diz S. [going three-quarters on the turf] and beat Ben's Cat, I remember Stan Stalter interviewing me and saying, 'What do you think you're going to do next?' And I said, 'A mile on the dirt,'” said Gaudet. “He never really ran back to that race on the turf, but he was an amazing dirt horse for us, we had so much fun with him.”

Though the dark bay gelding wasn't the easiest of horses to deal with in the barn, he made up for it with his dedication and consistency on the track, in the mornings and during the afternoon, and most notably with his unique personality.

Gaudet recalls a morning that a tour group, with children whose ages ranged from 10 to 18, walked through the barn. John Jones, in one of the first few stalls by the office, watched with rapt attention.

“Most of our stable is kind and they're used to peppermints and treats, but the way John Jones just brought himself to the front and made himself such a presence to these kids, they just gravitated to him. He engaged so much with these children and everybody seemed to have to touch him and he just had to put his nose on everybody. It was just kind of a 'stand back and watch moment,'” said Gaudet. “He was always a tough horse, he was kind of aggravating and always wiggling, stuff like that, but when it came time for his attitude and personality to shine, people of all backgrounds just really gravitated to this horse. He knew he was something special and could give them something special too.”

In his 33 starts across five seasons for Team Gaudet, he picked up two more stakes victories–taking the Jennings S. two years in a row–and hit the board in five others, including a trip down to Gulfstream Park where he finished third in the 2016 Claiming Crown Jewel S.

“I think it was in the week or two before Laurel Park shut down [due to COVID-19 in early 2020], he won a three-other-than and beat one of our other horses. He was set for such a big comeback, we thought he was going to have such a stellar year. When COVID-19 hit, we gave some of the horses time off and he came back and trained fine, but he never really raced quite as well. I don't know if he just thought it must have been his time to retire because he'd gotten time off, but it was kind of a confusing moment for him, as for all of us,” said Gaudet. “His owner Matt Schera was so great about it. He was like, 'Look, we're at a crossroads. It's either run him for $25,000 and watch him get claimed and probably go through the claiming ranks or we can retire him and find him a new job.'

“I jumped at the opportunity. I can't thank Matt enough for allowing us to be able to retire him and give him a happy home.”

John Jones made his final start Nov. 20, 2020 at Laurel Park, retiring with a record of 12-4-6 from 47 career starts with a total of $600,364 in earnings. Though Gaudet had hoped to find him a home where he could be a show horse or point towards the Retired Racehorse Project's Thoroughbred Makeover, those plans never panned out, so instead John Jones spent some time with Gaudet's string at Delaware Park before coming home to her family's farm in Upper Marlboro, Md.

The gelding spent nearly two years enjoying a life of leisure on the farm, sharing a field with fellow Smarty Jones gelding Concealed Identity, Gaudet's late father Eddie's first GI Preakness S. starter (2011). But earlier this year, Gaudet noticed a change in John Jones demeanor, as if he was trying to make it clear he had had enough of 'just hanging out.'

It was around that time, in mid-February, when Gaudet got the news that Blimey (Limehouse), her veteran trainee turned seasoned pony that she had sent to join Casse's team as the stable pony just a couple of years prior, had passed away in his stall at Fair Grounds. He was 16 years old.

“[Blimey] ran until he was 9 and he was just a fun racehorse to have. He was the first pony we sent to Norm and his assistant Will [Cano] loved Blimey. Norm was always very happy to have him in the barn and he did credit him with helping a lot of the fillies and the babies. I think it really gave Will, who rode him, the opportunity to watch more and be more hands-on in the development of Norm's younger horses,” said Gaudet. “I loved him. Will had that connection with him and he was absolutely crushed [when he died]. I just kept saying, 'We need to get Will another pony.'”

Gaudet pulled John Jones out of the field in March, rode him for a couple of weeks, and called her brother-in-law.

“He's very green but he's good. He's doing everything right and he just needs to be ridden, all morning long. I know Will wants a pony, so just let me send him out to you. If he doesn't work out, you can send him back,” she said.

Though everyone was excited for him to embark on this new chapter, it was still a bit emotional for the team who had spent all of those years with him at the track in Maryland, particularly Gaudet's groom, Abel Sanchez. Though Sanchez no longer works full-time in racing, he still comes to help Gaudet on the weekends, and he was there Sunday, Apr. 16, the day they loaded John Jones onto a van bound for Churchill Downs.

“I have so many videos of [Abel]'s son, who would just have to come in and see John Jones. The boy didn't know one thing about horses, didn't know one from another, but he knew John Jones and he would come in and just feed him peppermints. And John Jones would just stand there and eat a hundred if he could. He was so gentle with that little boy,” said Gaudet. “Abel walked him to the van and he started crying.”

John Jones has settled right into life as a pony in the Casse barn, serving an important role in the lead-up to the first Friday in May while also helping to ease the pain of losing Blimey as he follows in his hoofprints as Will's new partner.

“I really loved Blimey. He would follow me and he'd wait for me. He was my favorite. He'd know when I was coming and I'd give him peppermints. I'm trying to do the same with Mr. John,” said Cano. “The more time I work with him and he gets to know me more, he'll be a nice pony. The first few days he was a little fresh, but that's normal because it was his first time at Churchill Downs, but now he's doing great. I'm happy with him.

“We're excited with Southlawn and it's nice to have a pony to walk up with her and wait for her. I really appreciate Lacey Gaudet helping us out. It's nice to have a pony in the barn, especially this kind of horse.”

If the company Southlawn keeps in the Casse barn is any indication of her potential for success on Friday and the rest of her career, there is no doubt her future is bright.

The post Southlawn in Good Company with Stable Pony John Jones appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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For This NYRA Family, Helping Belmont Park Look Its Best Goes Back Generations

Growing up in Bellerose Terrace in the shadow of Belmont Park, where her father John “Jack” Jones worked as a painter, Jennifer Craig would watch the races most Saturday evenings on Channel 9 with her grandmother, never giving a thought to the fact that she too would one day build a career at the track.

“We watched the racing from Belmont Park and Aqueduct and never missed the Triple Crown races,” said Craig. “We knew the different tracks, the songs they played there and the names of the jockeys. It was part of the fabric of our household. It's funny but when I started working here, I found I knew a lot of the areas at Belmont Park, based on what we saw on TV and the times that dad brought us to the track.”

Jones' first day work at Belmont Park was on Belmont Stakes Day with very few people around and mostly quiet except for occasional construction noise.

That isn't a misprint: The Belmont Stakes that Saturday, June 5, 1965 – 56 years ago this month – took place at Aqueduct Racetrack, while Belmont Park was being renovated. Craig and her twin sister Jacqueline worked several summers at NYRA while in high school. Craig joined the landscaping team full-time in 1983, 38 years ago this summer.

Together, Jones and Craig have logged more than 90 years at NYRA while taking quiet satisfaction that their contributions have helped Belmont Park solidify its status as both a community pillar and one of America's most iconic tracks.

“Do I take pride in working here?” said Craig, about to answer her own question. “Yes. It's ingrained. It's something I was taught.”

Those bright and colorful arrangements of flowers that a national television audience saw on Saturday, June 5 at the Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets? Credit Craig, Landscaping Supervisor Evan Harmon and the rest of the NYRA landscaping team.

And the backgrounds of many other areas that help make Belmont Park retain its place as a premier destination for racing fans? Give a shoutout to Jones and his paintbrushes.

“Jack and Jenn, you never had to wonder if they'll be here or not,” said Frank Donroe, the NYRA facilities manager. “They both have a strong work ethic and do their jobs exceptionally well. We're fortunate they're with us and using all their experience to help Belmont Park look good.”

The longevity of the Jones family in New York racing actually goes back not just two generations, but three. Jones' father-in-law and Craig's grandfather, Terry McGovern, worked as a valet on the New York circuit, and served as a guide to Jones when he started at Belmont Park. For Jones, it's another connection to the track that extends all the way to when he was a kid growing up in Bellerose Terrace and hopping the fence to the track with his friends.

“Who could ever have predicted that I'd end up working here, let alone for more than 50 years and be joined by Jenn,” said Jones, who started at NYRA on the gardening team and moved to the “paint gang” three years later; for a time in the 1970s, he also served on the ambulance crew. “I can walk around Belmont Park – and not just the grandstand but the backyard, areas around the train platform and barns and cottages on the backstretch – and see the places I've worked. That's special.”

For both Jones and Craig, Belmont Stakes Day is an annual priority, a day they start planning for weeks ahead of time. “In preparing for the Belmont Stakes, I always spend a few weeks with a wagon and going around the track, touching up here up and painting there, getting to areas you see on television as well as areas you don't see,” said Jones. “After all these years, I know the places that need a little work.”

For Belmont Stakes Day, Craig and the landscaping team focused on building flower arrangements in and around the paddock, winner's circle, backyard and clubhouse. In particular, keep an eye out on Saturday for planters of colorful arrangements where the horse path meets the paddock.

Jones and Craig credit an environment in which they perform a blend of the work they're assigned and are a free to pursue assignments that they suggest.

“Creativity is really respected here, and I find I take a lot of what I've learned here and combine it with I've picked up on my own,” said Craig. “I feel we have a good knowledge of what works best.”

Craig prefers flower arrangements with colors that match – “not pinks and oranges, but reds, whites, purples and pinks,” she said.

Craig recalled the weeks leading to the 2015 Belmont Stakes – when she had a feeling American Pharoah would prevail – and thinking of what would work best. She and the landscaping team chose the patriotic red, white and blue – which, she said, “somehow seemed appropriate.”

Karma? Perhaps. Before an ecstatic crowd of 90,000 and millions more watching on television, American Pharoah became the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years.

There was no Triple Crown last Saturday, but the Belmont Stakes was still special – or as Jones put it, “extra” special in helping New York celebrate its emergence from a challenging year.

“It's really important that Belmont Park looks good this year,” he said. “I'm happy to take a small role in that.”

The post For This NYRA Family, Helping Belmont Park Look Its Best Goes Back Generations appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Trainer Lacey Gaudet Hoping To Add Another Chapter In Family’s Success Story

Carrying the mantle for one of Maryland's best known and respected racing families, trainer Lacey Gaudet has been proud to continue the tradition her late father, Eddie, began in the 1950s.

Saturday, the 33-year-old Gaudet is hoping to add another chapter to the family's legacy and join her father as a graded-stakes winner.

Gaudet will send out Five Hellions Farm's Dontletsweetfoolya in the $250,000 Runhappy Barbara Fritchie (G3) at Laurel Park, co-headliner with the $250,000 General George (G3) on a nine-race Winter Sprintfest program featuring six stakes worth $900,000 in purses. Post time is 12:25 p.m.

One of Eddie Gaudet's three career graded victories came with Star Touch in the 1991 General George, the first year it carried graded status, then Grade 2. He also won the 1985 Anne Arundel Handicap (G3) with Classy Cut and 1994 Garden State (G3) with Alleged Impression.

Overall, Eddie Gaudet won more than 1,700 races before retiring at the end of 2011, passing away at age 87 in January 2018. Two years earlier Gaudet and her mother, Linda, herself a noted horseman, owner and trainer, combined their stables into Team Gaudet with great success.

They turned John Jones, a $25,000 claim in the summer of 2018, into a multiple stakes winner and track record holder at Colonial Downs before he was retired. They broke Double Crown's maiden at Laurel in 2019 before the horse was sold and became a multiple stakes winner and twice graded-stakes placed including runner-up in the 2020 Chick Lang (G3) at Pimlico Race Course.

The new stable star is Dontletsweetfoolya, a winner of five consecutive races by 28 ¼ combined lengths, the last two wins coming in stakes – the Nov. 28 Primonetta and Dec. 26 Willa On the Move. By multiple Grade 1 winner Stay Thirsty, she will be making her season debut in the Fritchie for Gaudet, four wins shy of 200 for her young career.

“We're going into the race confident and we know that we have a nice filly, and I think that it's just going to be fun from here on out,” she said. “If she wins, great. It's not going to take anything away from her if she gets beat, but to go for six in a row and get a graded stakes under her belt? That would be fantastic.”

The connections remained patient as Dontletsweetfoolya matured from her high-strung juvenile days. She went winless in two starts at 2, and needed two more races before breaking her maiden last July. Following an allowance win at Laurel in September, Gaudet resisted the temptation to step up in a race like the Miss Preakness (G3), part of the rescheduled Preakness Day program in October.

Instead, Dontletsweetfoolya went to Pimlico anyway for an optional claiming allowance two days earlier, overcoming an eventful ship and a troubled start for a three-length triumph that earned her a shot at stakes company.

“She matured a lot as a 3-year-old from her 2-year-old season, and that showed on her form last year. So, hopefully she can start off her 4-year-old season the right way,” Gaudet said. “She's doing everything right. We stayed the course and we went through the races that we hoped to hit and we said that this was going to be our ultimate goal. We're here, she's ready and she's doing great, so it's time to test her.”

Dontletsweetfoolya drew Post 3 in a field of eight and was made the 7-2 third choice on the morning line for the Fritchie behind 8-5 favorite Hello Beautiful and Grade 3 winner Sharp Starr. Hello Beautiful, a five-time stakes winner including each of her last three starts, will break from the far outside.

Gaudet's last graded-stakes attempt came with long shot Chauncey, second by a neck at odds of 42-1 in the 2018 Charles Town Oaks (G3).

“We drew inside of a lot of the speed,” Gaudet said. “The last couple of races I've left it up to [jockey Jevian] Toledo, and she just does whatever he wants her to. So, I think I'm just going to leave it up to him.

“I know Hello Beautiful has a lot of speed. I don't think she's the only one, but I do think that we'll definitely be the pace, the two of us, and we'll see how they fare,” she added. “It takes a little bit of the pressure off, because we know where she's going to be. We're not going to change our tactics in this race.”

Gaudet and Five Hellions will have another stakes starter Saturday, Fraudulent Charge, in the $100,000 Wide Country for 3-year-old fillies. Making her season debut, she is fourth choice of nine at 6-1 behind 2-1 program favorite Street Lute, a winner of four straight stakes and five overall. Fraudulent Charge nearly ended that streak in the Dec. 26 Gin Talking, her late rally coming up a nose short.

“We always liked her, but she definitely ran huge last time. She's matured since then, she's grown since then and she's just going into this race fantastic,” Gaudet said. “I know there's speed. I don't think that she'll be speed, she's kind of a little different from [Street Lute]. [Jockey] Johan [Rosado] says that she's very push-button, so I think that he'll be able to rate her a little bit behind the speed and if she can make that run like she did last time, I think she'll be very dangerous.”

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