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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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OwnerView Names MyRacehorse 2020’s New Owner Of The Year

OwnerView announced today that MyRacehorse has been named the 2020 New Owner of the Year, presented by New York Thoroughbred Breeders. The award recognizes a new Thoroughbred owner who has been successful in the sport and has had a positive impact on the industry.

The award will be presented during the seventh Thoroughbred Owner Conference, which will be held virtually November 3-4, 2020.

MyRacehorse is a novel ownership concept whereby individuals can purchase United States Securities Exchange Commission-approved microshares in Thoroughbred racehorses. Since its founding, it has partnered in horses such as Kentucky Derby winner Authentic and grade 1 winner Street Band.

“MyRacehorse launched nationally in June 2019 with aspirations of making a real impact on the sport of horse racing,” said Michael Behrens, founder and chief executive officer of MyRacehorse. “We were confident it would happen, but never in our wildest dreams did we expect it to happen so quickly. Winning this award, especially considering the innovators that have won it previously, is truly the icing on the cake to a surreal and magical year for MyRacehorse.”

“MyRacehorse has revolutionized horse racing to make the ownership experience more accessible than ever,” said Gary Falter. “OwnerView's mission is to grow Thoroughbred racehorse ownership, and we are pleased to honor a group that has brought thousands of owners to the pinnacle of our sport.”

The New Owner of the Year Award has been previously presented to Larry Best, the Churchill Downs Racing Club, Charles and Susan Chu, Sol Kumin, and LNJ Foxwoods.

The Thoroughbred Owner Conference is being held virtually this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For more information about the owner conference, including the full schedule of panels and registration, please visit ownerview.com/event/conference or contact Gary Falter at gfalter@jockeyclub.com.

OwnerView is a joint effort spearheaded by The Jockey Club and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association to encourage ownership of Thoroughbreds and provide accurate information on aspects of ownership such as trainers, public racing syndicates, the process of purchasing and owning a Thoroughbred, racehorse retirement, and owner licensing.

The need for a central resource to encourage Thoroughbred ownership was identified in the comprehensive economic study of the sport that was commissioned by The Jockey Club and conducted by McKinsey & Company in 2011. The OwnerView site was launched in May 2012.

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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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Jones Loaded With Street Band, Istan Council In Sunday’s Groupie Doll Stakes

Street Band was one of the country's top 3-year-old fillies last year. Trainer Larry Jones, also her co-owner and co-breeder, is still trying to see how that translates into her stature as a 4-year-old.

Just matching last year is a lofty standard, with Street Band earning more than $1 million in 2019, including victories in the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks, Grade 3 Indiana Oaks and Parx's Grade 1 Cotillion, where her 2 1/4-length triumph remains the sensational filly Guarana's only defeat.

Street Band should get some relief in the ferocity of competition when she runs in Sunday's $100,000 Groupie Doll Stakes at Ellis Park, one of five stakes on the RUNHAPPY Ellis Park Derby card. Street Band is 0 for 3 in 2020, all against top-flight company: a very close third in the Grade 3 Houston Ladies Classic, a fading fourth in the Grade 2 Azeri Stakes and a rallying fourth in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom in April in her last start.

“I think she had reached her peak early fall last year, late summer,” Jones said. “She was really doing well. She's doing just as well now, but she just has not looked like (she's) doing better. She looks like maybe she matured early, and we have not been as busy with her, and some of it due to the COVID.”

Street Band drew post 12 as the Groupie Doll attracted 15 fillies and mares, with the three “also-eligibles” requiring defections in order to make the capacity field of 12. The Groupie Doll goes off as race 9 on the 10-race card capped by the RUNHAPPY Ellis Park Derby. The sensational betting card is dominated by full fields, with TVG providing live on-site coverage.

Jones is hoping the Groupie Doll is a steppingstone to Keeneland's Grade 1 Spinster. With the Breeders' Cup also at Keeneland this year, the major objective is getting Street Band back into the $2 million Distaff, a race in which she was eighth last year.

“We've only had three starts,” Jones said of 2020. “The Houston Ladies Classic, she had a wide trip, and I thought that was a really good race for her. In the Azeri, the track was really sloppy and I didn't think she ran her best race by any means. (Kentucky Oaks winner) Serengeti Empress got on an easy lead and just kept going. She's running good. I don't know if she's any better at 4 than she was at 3.”

Jones is known for being forthright anyway. But he also can speak candidly about Street Band as a co-owner with wife Cindy, Ray Francis of Henderson and with minority interests owned by Medallion Racing and MyRaceHorse Stable.

“I have as much on the line as they do,” Jones said. “So my partners have been very agreeable to do what we're doing. So it's worked out well.

“… The Groupie Doll is the premier race here,” the long-time Henderson resident continued. “Not knowing two months ago how the COVID was going to be doing, we just decided to stay home, try not to do a lot of outside traveling and maybe getting ourselves and our barn in jeopardy of getting quarantined. This is always a race we have on our radar for our fillies. I've run some Grade 1 winners in this race. It's a good race, and I love racing at Ellis Park on their track.”

Indeed, after finishing second in the 2012 Groupie Doll (then known as the Gardenia), Jones sent Joyous Victory to California, where she was second in the Grade 1 Zenyatta before the next spring returning for victory in the Grade 1 Santa Margarita. Groupie Doll herself finished third in the 2013 Gardenia before winning her second straight Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint and female sprint championship. (Groupie Doll also won the 2011 Gardenia as a 3-year-old.)

Jockey Sophie Doyle, who has ridden Street Band for the past 13 of her 16 career starts, comes in from Iowa's Prairie Meadows to ride. She says she sees the signs that Street Band at 4 is the same as Street Band at 3. One thing that is different this year is that Doyle switched circuits and hasn't been able to be on the filly in most of her timed workouts.

“She's always been performing and trying hard,” Doyle said of the Street Band, the jockey's first Grade 1 winner. “… Street Band is just incredible. I've been so fortunate and blessed to come across a filly like her. We've been together from the very beginning. The past two years, it's been a development with each race we've gone into. I think it's been an important key for both of us that we've been able to progress together so well. She's highlighted my career in so many ways.”

Jones has another Groupie Doll contender in Istan Council, who last year defeated older horses by 10 3/4 lengths to win an Ellis Park allowance race.

“She really does well on this track,” Jones said. “And I love the fact that going a mile here is not a two-turn race. It's maybe a turn and three-quarters. We know she wants to go a little bit longer than the six furlongs we've been able to find to keep her at the one-turn. We haven't been able to find a true one-turn mile race for her. But she's coming into this race very well.”

Both fillies come into the race without their final scheduled workout, with Jones calling them off Tuesday because of the muddy track.

“We'll have to go into the race just off of gallops,” he said in a text update. “Uncharted waters for both of them.”

In addition to the Groupie Doll and $200,000 RUNHAPPY Ellis Park Derby, the other stakes Sunday are the $100,000 RUNHAPPY Juvenile,$100,000 RUNHAPPY Debutante and the $100,000 RUNHAPPY Audubon Oaks.

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