Larry Jones getting back into training

By: SPORTS NETWORK

Hot Springs, AR (Sports Network) - Veteran horseman Larry Jones has decided that being an assistant to his wife is not enough. The Kentucky-native has decided to return to training thoroughbreds at Oaklawn Park.

"Cindy (Jones) said it is her turn to retire," Jones commented. "But I presume she'll be around the barn a lot."

Jones, who retired as a trainer after the 2009 Breeders' Cup, will have a stable of horses for the 2011 Oaklawn Park racing season beginning on January 14.

"Cindy would like to get her own Proud Spell," Jones said. "We look forward to being at Oaklawn in the next two or three weeks and I'm ready to get back into action."

Proud Spell was one of the many stakes winning horses Jones trained. Owned by former Kentucky Governor Brereton Jones, Proud Spell won the 2008 Kentucky and Delaware Oaks along with the Alabama Stakes. She was voted that year's champion three-year-old filly.

However, Jones experienced the lowest point in his training career in 2008.

Three-year-old filly Eight Belles finished second to Big Brown in the 2008 Kentucky Derby. Immediately after the finish of the Run for the Roses, the filly fractured both ankles and had to be euthanized. She was owned by Fox Hill Farms.

Jones trained many horses for Fox Hill Farms, most notably Hard Spun. As a three-year-old in 2007, Hard Spun won the Lane's End Stakes and then finished second to Street Sense in the Kentucky Derby. The colt was third in the Preakness to Curlin and fourth in the Belmont Stakes behind the filly Rags to Riches.

Hard Spun won the 2007 King's Bishop and was second to Curlin in the Breeders' Cup Classic.

Jones and his wife are also based at Delaware Park during the spring and summer. Fox Hill Farms' owner Rick Porter has indicated that he will return some of his horses to Jones.

Most of Fox Hill Farms' thoroughbreds were transfered to trainer Tony Dutrow upon Jones' retirement last year.