It was business as usual Saturday morning at Barn 43 at Churchill Downs with
trainer Larry Jones in the saddle and galloping his horses during training
hours.
But the game, and Jones’ life, will change on Sunday.
“I am sleeping in that morning,” said Jones, who is turning over the training
of his 23 horses to his wife Cindy. “I’m gonna tell Cindy that I’m sick.”
Jones, a 53-year-old native of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, who began training in
1982, retired as a trainer after the Saturday card. His final starter, Payton
d’Oro (Medaglia d’Oro), finished fifth in the Chilukki S. (G2).
Jones galloped four horses Saturday morning, the final one being No Such Word
(Candian Frontier).
“That’s it, I’m done,” Jones said with a laugh after he got off the
two-year-old filly.
“I’m gonna keep on galloping. I think I’m on the gallop list tomorrow, but on
the late, late ones. I think tomorrow will be my first day as an exercise rider
because I have always had a trainer’s license when I have been galloping my
horses.”
Jones owns one stakes victory at Churchill Downs, where he saddled his first
starter. That winner was Proud Spell in the 2008 Kentucky Oaks (G1), who was
later named champion three-year-old filly.
But it was another filly that really kick-started Jones’ career, Island Sand,
who finished second to champion Ashado in the 2004 Oaks.
“She was right here in this barn and she was the one that really put us on
the map,” Jones said. “We drove back to Ellis Park with her in the trailer that
afternoon after the race. We stopped at a McDonald’s for a bite to eat and she
went through the drive-through with us.”
Jones, who saddled Hard Spun and Eight Belles to runner-up finishes in the
2007 and 2008 runnings of the Kentucky Derby, still has that trailer.
“It is in Maryland with all my stuff in it that has to get to Oaklawn Park,”
Jones said.
Cindy Jones will oversee the barn operations through the end of the Churchill
Downs meet on November 28 and then the couple will head home to Henderson,
Kentucky, for the holidays and Christmas with the grandchildren.
Longtime assistants Deirdre Jackson and Cory York will handle the stable’s
move to Arkansas and continue to work with Cindy.