Accepting congratulations on behalf of the Brereton Jones color-bearer
Mark Valeski’s winning late run in Saturday’s Grade III Mineshaft
Handicap following his horse’s seemingly hopeless entrapment at the
eighth pole, trainer Larry Jones was in a jocular frame of mind Sunday
morning doing.
“We decided this morning that we’re going
to take ‘Mark’ to Europe,” Jones said. “They like to keep their horses
covered up over there, so maybe that should be this horse’s new running
style. As they saw in Europe, when Mark finally tipped to the outside,
he really quickened.”
Mark Valeski’s win in Belmont’s
Grade II Peter Pan last summer was his lone prior stakes score despite
close local runner-up losses last winter in the Grade II Risen Star
Stakes and Grade II Louisiana Derby and another second this winter in
the Louisiana Handicap.
“I was thinking, ‘Oh no, here we go again,’” said Jones of the Mark Valeski’s recent “seconditis” at Fair Grounds.
“For
awhile there, I thought maybe we were looking at a case of ‘lastitis,’”
Jones said. “Those were some good horses in front of him yesterday, and
I also knew Bernie’s horse (Tenth Street Stable’s Cool Street, trained
by Bernie Flint) was starting to get rolling. That’s a real good horse
Bernie has. If that horse gets in front of you, you’re not going to
catch him again. We’ll be pointing Mark Valeski for the (Grade II) New
Orleans Handicap for his next start, and I’m sure Bernie will be
pointing his horse that way, too.
“Also, I expect we’re
going to see (Twin Creeks Racing’s) Graydar and (Bourbon Lane Stable’s)
Bourbon Courage coming here for our race,” Jones said, speaking of the
one-two finishers in Gulfstream’s Grade I Donn Handicap Feb. 9. That New
Orleans Handicap is going to be quite a race.”
COOL
STREET CLOSES LIKE A SHOT IN MINESHAFT DESPITE SLOW PACE
Tenth Street
Stable’s Cool Street was undefeated in four starts this season at Fair
Grounds prior to Saturday’s Grade III Mineshaft Handicap, and in that
prelude to the upcoming Grade II New Orleans Handicap March 30, the
4-year-old son of 2008 Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense closed like a
freight train to finish second.
“My horse couldn’t win
with a slow pace like they had in that race yesterday,” said trainer
Bernie Flint during training hours Sunday. “My horse was still last at
the quarter pole. He came charging after that. I’ve never seen a horse
run as hard as he did in that last quarter.
“However, I
knew we had no chance to catch (Brereton Jones’s) Mark Valeski,” Flint
said. “That horse is a good horse and he’s been training at the top of
his game these last few weeks. I knew going into the race Mark Valeski
was the horse we had to beat. That boy (Mark Valeski’s trainer Larry
Jones) can really train a horse. He had his horse really sharp.
“We’re
going to go ahead and point for the next round,” Flint concluded,
speaking of the upcoming Grade II New Orleans Handicap March 30. “You
got to with a horse like this. My horse is a coming horse right now, not
a going horse.”