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Contact: Jim Mulvihill, Communications and Pari-Mutuel Marketing Manager, 504.948.1233, james.mulvihill@fgno.com
Contact: Graham Ross, Staff Writer, 504.948.1255, graham.ross@fgno.com
JOYFUL VICTORY WORKING TOWARD TIFFANY LASS
· Horse of the Year Havre de Grace Moving Forward
· Z Dager, ‘Property’ Also in Monday Moves Toward
· Daisy Devine in Monday Work for Fair Grounds’ Mardi Gras Stakes Feb. 21
By Graham Ross, Staff Writer
NEW ORLEANS (Wednesday, February 01, 2012) – Fox Hill Farms’ Joyful Victory, post time favorite for last spring’s Grade I Kentucky Oaks after winning Oaklawn’s Grade II Fantasy and Grade III Honeybee stakes, breezed five furlongs Monday in 1:01.40 at Fair Grounds in preparation for the upcoming $75,000 Tiffany Lass Stakes Feb. 11 at the New Orleans oval.
“That was a very nice work she had the other day,” said trainer Larry Jones Wednesday morning during training hours. “She’s pointing up to the Tiffany Lass just fine.”
The 20th anniversary edition of the Tiffany Lass, repositioned on the Fair Grounds stakes schedule two years ago as a race for older fillies and mares, is to be contested over the main track at a mile and a sixteenth.
Following her fourth-place finish in the Kentucky Oaks last year, Joyful Victory came back to run second in Belmont’s Grade I Mother Goose Stakes June 25 but was then put away for the rest of the season after finishing fifth in Saratoga’s Grade I Coaching Club American Oaks July 23.
Jones began Joyful Victory’s 2012 campaign with a start over Fair Grounds’ Stall-Wilson turf course Jan. 11 and the daughter of Tapit out of a Wild Again mare ran second by three-quarters of a length in the first start of her career on grass.
HORSE OF THE YEAR HAVRE DE GRACE MOVING FORWARD – Fox Hill Farms’ Havre de Grace, honored as 2011 Horse of the Year at last month’s Eclipse Awards dinner, is also moving forward, according to trainer Larry Jones.
“She’s been galloping every day for a couple of weeks now,” said Jones. “She’s getting pretty sharp now. I let her stretch her legs for about an eighth of a mile the other day just to tease her a little bit, so I think she’s coming right along for us.”
Jones also updated on the status of his two 3-year-old stars, the Brereton Jones-owned pair of Grade III Lecomte Stakes winner Mr. Bowling and the $125,000 Silverbulletday Stakes heroine Believe You Can.
“They are both doing great and are coming up fine for their next assignments (Mr. Bowling in Fair Grounds’ Grade II Risen Star Stakes and Believe You Can in Fair Grounds’ Grade III Rachel Alexandra Stakes on Feb. 25),” Jones said. “We’ve already got them pretty fit. Now we’re just keeping them ready to race.”
The Risen Star and the Rachel Alexandra stakes are just two of six stakes slated for Fair Grounds’
Z DAGER, ‘PROPERTY’ ALSO IN MONDAY MOVES TOWARD DERBY PREVIEW DAY – Zayat Stables’ Z Dager, who challenged throughout the final furlong of Fair Grounds’ Grade III Lecomte Stakes on Jan. 21 before being beaten by a head at the wire, breezed a half-mile Monday in 52.60 at the New Orleans oval in preparation for his next scheduled assignment in Grade II Risen Star Stakes Feb. 25.
Also on the Monday work tab was Jerry Namy’s Shared Property, who worked four furlongs in 51.60 after finishing third in the Lecomte, beaten two heads by the winning Mr. Bowling and a head behind Z Dager. Shared Property is also on track for his projected next assignment in the Risen Star.
Working Wednesday morning toward the upcoming Grade III Rachel Alexandra Stakes on Feb. 25 was Jake Ballis’s Inny Minnie, who went a half-mile in 50.06.
On Monday, Tall Oaks Farm’s Avie’s Sense, another projected runner in the Grade III Rachel Alexandra, went five furlongs in 1:01 flat after being entered as “main track only” for an allowance race Sunday that was contested over Fair Grounds Stall-Wilson turf course.
DAISY DEVINE IN MONDAY WORK FOR FAIR GROUNDS’ MARDI GRAS STAKES FEB. 21 – James Miller’s Daisy Devine, winner of last season’s Grade II Fair Grounds Oaks after finishing second by a neck in last year’s Silverbulletday Stakes, worked five furlongs Monday in 1:02.80 in preparation for Fair Grounds’ $75,000 Mardi Gras Stakes for older fillies and mares over the Stall-Wilson turf course Feb. 21.
“She’s doing good,” said trainer Andy McKeever Wednesday morning during training hours. “She’s in good shape now.”
Asked if the upcoming $75,000 Tiffany Lass Stakes for older fillies and mares on the main track Feb. 11 remained a possibility for Daisy Devine, McKeever said, “No, I think we’ll stick to the turf for now.”
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