Louisiana Derby (G2) winner FRIESAN FIRE (A.P. Indy), along with the two
other Larry Jones horses who ran at Fair Grounds Saturday, came out of their
races well, according to Jones’ wife and assistant trainer Cindy.
“All three horses are doing just fine today,” Cindy Jones said. “They are all
a little tired, but that’s to be expected. They’re all in good shape. I just
checked on Friesan Fire a little while ago, and he’s so relaxed he looked like
he was about to fall asleep standing on his feet.”
The other two Jones runners are both older horses, the sprinter Kodiak Kowboy
(Posse) who was second in the Duncan F. Kenner S., and Honest Man (Unbridled’s
Song), who failed to
handle the slop when eighth in the New Orleans H. (G2).
“The only reason Honest Man didn’t run his best race is because he didn’t
like the mud,” she said. “He was just spinning his wheels out there. I could see
he was beat shortly after he started running and he came back with his bandages
absolutely shredded.
“But Friesan Fire just loved it (the sloppy going) out there,” the trainer’s
wife added. “Now we don’t have to worry about what the weather is like on
(Kentucky) Derby Day.”
TERRAIN (Sky Mesa), third in the Louisiana Derby in his sophomore debut,
remains on course for the Run for the Roses on May 2 .
“That was a nice comeback race for him (Saturday),” trainer Al Stall Jr. said
Sunday morning. “He’d been off 99 days, including some down time, and I liked
what I saw. We’ll be going on to Kentucky with him, and shoot for (Keeneland’s)
Blue Grass ([G1] on April 11) or Lexington S. ([G2] on April 18) with him.”
Terrain was narrowly beaten for the runner-up spot in the Louisiana Derby,
going down by a head to PAPA CLEM (Smart Strike).
In contrast, GIANT OAK’s (Giant’s Causeway) fourth-place finish in the
Louisiana Derby has likely removed him from the Derby trail, according to
trainer Chris Block.
“He made a run, but it wasn’t a strong run,” Block said Sunday morning. “I
think the horse struggled with the race track, and I think the off track
certainly played a lot into what happened to him yesterday, but we’ve had a
stroke of bad luck once again with him this winter here, and we really didn’t
learn a lot about him.
“Right now, I just don’t consider him a Kentucky Derby horse, and I’m not
going to chase down that road and ruin a horse just to say I had a horse in the
Kentucky Derby.”
Among the older brigade, New Orleans H. winner Macho Again came out of his
triumph in good order, according to trainer Dallas Stewart.
“He’s always been a nice horse, and his win yesterday makes up for a lot of
things,” Stewart said. “He could have run a little better in the Sunshine
Millions (Classic) last time (when seventh), but he needed a race before that
and it just didn’t work out for us. I haven’t even thought about what might be
next for him.”