Trainer Larry Jones has been tampered with AGAIN. Less than a month ago Jones and Jim Squires had a positive drug test (which Squires is appealing) and now someone has been turning horses out at his barn!
The latest episode lead to an employee being fired and according to the article “Jones is confident he is not the target of other horsemen or activists”. To make it worse, not only did the culprit(s) turn out the horses, his stable pony, Pal, had blisters in mouth that were not the results of cuts… what the hell kind of message is that?
It took me a while to come around to Larry Jones. Swifty and I swung back and forth thinking he was an idiot to thinking he was a genius several times during our beloved Hard Spun’s 3yo campaign. I think ultimately his last 3 races and in particular his incredible finish in the last year’s Classic sold me. I thought, incorrectly, that Hard Spun should have gone in the Dirt Mile because he wouldn’t get the distance and while he didn’t win, he did turn in another strong performance.
I also hear it from some trusted friends that Larry and his wife Cindy are two of the nicest people you could ever meet! And c’mon, look at his truck. If Swifty still had a car I’d be pimpin’ his ride Hard Spun style for his birthday!
And if anyone has any ideas for a new poll, let me know!
Larry Jones training my beloved Hard Spun at Monmouth (Sarah K. Andrew)
Over at The Rail, the question was posed to Dr. Larry Bramlage about Larry Jones’ practice of exercising his trainees and if this could have played into Eight Belles’ accident.
No! This did not contribute to her injuries. You could even make the argument that it would be preventative in that it would make the bones stronger. He rides his horses regularly. They are adapted to him on their back. That would tend to make them stronger. The filly that won the Oaks, Proud Spell, is much smaller than Eight Belles. He rides her, too.
To which I asked (by way of comments): “doesn’t his answer indicate that the weight requirements for jockeys are waaaay too severe and in fact cruel? I thought the reason jocks had to weigh less than a supermodel is due to safety concerns for the horse.”
Can we now use his answer, in print in the New York Times, as evidence that jockeys don’t NEED to have ridiculous weight restrictions. While everyone is so high on safety right now, we shouldn’t over look our sport’s human athletes.
“Porter tried unsuccessfully to get an extension in the contract so Hard Spun could race again in 2008 as a 4-year-old.”
Delaware Online has an article about Hard Spun shipping off to his new life as a stud. Points for effort on Porter’s behalf (kind of), but seriously, did he not think about that BEFORE he signed the contract?
I love Tom Durkin, the Belmont track announcer. His sense of timing and drama mixed with his Don Pardo-like stylings are something to behold. I was lucky enough to be in the grandstands yesterday, and let me just say that I have never, ever, ever publicly jumped up & down, hooted & hollered and generally engaged in “sports fan” behavior the way I did yesterday. AND, I didn’t have a winning ticket all day. As a matter of fact, I stunk on ice… hideous. But it was the best day I ever had at the track.
Getting back to Tom Durkin, even on a quiet day at Belmont you can’t hear the announcer, so I had to wait until I watched the race replay (about 15 times now and I’m not even close to being done) to really hear the genius of his narration. Not like that race needed any help but his stretch call was AMAZING!
I’m SOOO happy she won! Interesting because she sort of mimicked Curlin’s Preakness run… she came wide to his inside trip and Curlin stumbled at the gate in the Preakness as well. What a great Triple Crown. It’s shame that casual fans are only interested when a Triple Crown winner is on the line. I feel like I saw some of the greatest horse racing of our time in these three races!
So what happened to everyone else? I’m not surprised by Slew’s Tizzy’s run given that he had never run over a mile and sixteenth… don’t think it’s anything against him. Also, I thought CP West ran pretty nicely. If I had had Tiago in my superfecta box instead of Imawildandcrazyguy, it would have been an even better day… but as I like to say “that’s why they call it gambling.”
Not sure what happened to IWCG and haven’t had much luck digging anything up. Not sure if the glacial pace kept him from getting his motor running or if his run in the derby was an anomaly as opposed to the beginning of something interesting. I really liked his run in the Risen Star and still have some hopes for him in more appropriate company.
As for Hard Spun, I’m a little baffled. He was running really erratically at the start. One report said he was a little rank and giving Gomez a bit of a tough time. Another report said that Larry Jones thought the plan was to keep the pace where it was but to have him in the lead. Gomez was quoted as saying that he thought everything was going well but when it came down to it HS didn’t have any run. One thing I’ve noticed about HS is that he seems to do best when he’s left to his own devices (Preakness notwithstanding, although I still think that was a combo platter of misfortune). Maybe now they’ll have to run him as a 4 year old to get his good name back (although I think he gave it his all)! A girl can dream… and count me in the “fans for seeing HS run a mile on the turf” club.
The undercard was great too! I loved Papi Chullo’s run in the third. Can’t wait to see more of him with his new connections and Cotton Blossom had a great run in the Just a Game!
Tom Durkin had another great moment in the True North as Keyed Entry was blowing Bordonaro’s chances (and mine) by bringing him really wide, “Keyed Entry is taking Bordonaro out to the Cross Island Parkway”.
Ah Belmont, I love you so (and will be back to see Invasor in a few weeks!!).
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