They’ll all be trying to keep up with the Joneses in the 86th
running of the $200,000 Monmouth Oaks (G3). The Jones family, in this case
retired trainer J. Larry Jones and his wife Cindy who has taken over the
stable, will be trying to win the historic event for the third straight time
when the Oaks is renewed as the 11th race on Saturday.
And just for good measure, the filly Cindy Jones will send out, No Such Word,
is owned by another Jones, former Kentucky Gov. Brereton C. Jones (no
relation).
“Yes, we’re going for the hat trick,” Cindy Jones said. “At first, Larry said
it wasn’t really, because he’s not training, but I told him it was all about
family, and now he agrees that it would be a hat trick.”
Larry Jones won the last two runnings of the Oaks with Maren’s Meadow in 2008,
and Just Jenda last year to become just the second trainer to accomplish the
feat. Bill Donovan was the first to win consecutive Oaks, scoring with Diamond
Duo in 1992 and Jacody in 1993.
No Such Word, a bay daughter of Canadian Frontier * Muskoka Ice, by It’s
Freezing, has established herself as a quality 3-year-old, and is coming off a
fourth in the Grade 2 Delaware Oaks when she finished less than three lengths
behind the streaking Blind Luck.
“Thank goodness she’s not in this race,” Cindy Jones said. “We’ve met her
twice, and I think she’s the number one filly (3-year-old) in the nation right
now. “We’re really excited about the Monmouth Oaks,” she said. “I like our
chances because there looks to be a ton of speed in there, which will help her.
“And I love the way she’s been training for this.”
No Such Word completed her training for the Oaks with a bullet five furlongs in
:58 flat on Monday over the deep Delaware
main track. “Terry (jockey Terry Thompson) never moved on her,” Cindy Jones
said. “She went a half in :44 and change and galloped out in
1:11 2/5, and did it on her own.”
It was her second bullet five-eighths move of the month, a week after the filly
worked in 1:01 2/5 on Aug. 2. No Such Word started this season racing at Oaklawn Park, and
gained her first stakes victory in the Grade 3 Honeybee in March. She finished
third behind Blind Luck and Tidal Pool in the Grade 2 Fantasy in April.
In the Black-Eyed Susan (G2) at Pimlico in May, No Such Word suffered traffic problems
in a roughly run race where one filly fell and another lost her rider, but
still managed to be second. In the Go for Wand Stakes in June, she scored by a
neck over Havre de Grace, who went on to be beaten just a nose by Blind Luck in
the Delaware Oaks on July 10.
“I think she’s getting better all the time,” Cindy Jones said.