LOUISVILLE A day hasn’t gone by without Larry Jones thinking of Eight Belles.
To make sure of that, he’s worn a bracelet with her name for almost a year and hung a plaque in his barn honoring the champion filly he trained before she collapsed after last year’s Kentucky Derby. Finishing second behind Big Brown, she fell to her knees, tried to rise but collapsed again with two broken ankles. She couldn’t be saved so Jones and her owners put her down minutes later with a lethal injection. This year, Jones is training Friesan Fire for today’s Derby, one of the favorites in the race that also has ties to Ocala through horseman Ian Brennan, who broke and gave the A.P. Indy colt his early training. But Jones thinks he witnessed a small miracle a few days ago at the Churchill Downs track chapel during a charity event that is telling him to start looking toward today’s race, Friesan Fire and the future. “During the event, I looked down and the bracelet was broken,” said the 52-year-old Jones at his Churchill Downs barn after exercising Friesan Fire. “I just felt it break. It wasn’t snagged on anything. It just broke.” “I took it as a sign, get over it,” he said wearing his trademark cowboy hat, his voice breaking as he told the story. “It gives me some relief.”
Jones will take his third run at the Derby with Friesan Fire. His first was with Hard Spun in 2007. That horse came in second behind Street Sense.