Jones filly Eight Belles is one hot topic

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - If it's Derby week, Larry Jones is ready to tell you a tale. Last year, the folksy trainer came to Churchill Downs with Hard Spun, put his horse through a record-setting workout on Monday, then sat back and took the shots as every handicapper from Churchill Downs to Suffolk Downs said he used up his horse too early.

Jones got a measure of respect when Hard Spun ran hard in the Derby before being overtaken by Street Sense.

This year, Jones doesn't have a colt who is Derby-worthy. No problem. But barring a draw that puts his horse in either the No. 19 or No. 20 spot, Jones will enter Eight Belles, who will then be the first filly to run in the Derby since 1999.

Only three fillies have won the Derby in its 133 years: Regret in 1915, Genuine Risk in 1980, and Winning Colors in 1988. Jones and Eight Belles owner Rick Porter looked over the Derby contenders this winter and saw no monsters - at least not when entries had to be filed - and decided, why not?

"If we thought we had no shot, we wouldn't have done it," said Jones yesterday morning outside Barn 33. "We would have stayed in the Oaks. I would have tried to talk him out of it. But we don't see any horses in this race that look unbeatable."

The escape hatch is Friday's Kentucky Oaks for fillies. Eight Belles drew post position 12 in that race yesterday, which she will take if today's Derby draw puts the daughter of Unbridled Song in the far outside No. 19 or No. 20 posts.

Eight Belles is hardly a shy maiden. She is as big now as Hard Spun was last October when he finished his 3-year-old season at the Breeders' Cup, and she has won all four of her starts by a combined 30 lengths.

In an era in which a Todd Pletcher-trained filly, Rags to Riches, went eye to eye with the boys and won the grueling 1 1/2-mile Belmont last June, Jones says he is not afraid of putting Eight Belles in with boys.

"I'm glad she's entered," said Big Brown trainer Rick Dutrow. "Because there isn't a filly in the world that can beat Big Brown.

Jones, who is called the Cowboy and sometimes fashions a "me against the world" mentality regarding his training methods, laughs when he is questioned about the decision.

"If I can't train colts, it's only fitting that I would win with a filly," he said. "The first thoroughbred race I ever won was with a filly against colts. That was in 1981 with a horse name Alaturf at Ellis Park."

Jones concedes the odds aren't great.

"This is not the ideal spot to make it a gender issue," he said. "But her numbers are as good as most of the boys'."

Jones says Eight Belles is just maturing from a gangling, clumsy 2-year-old to a much more mature 3-year-old.

"She finally figured out where her legs were going," said Jones. "It took her a while to learn where everything was. I'm not saying this was a bad bunch of boys. There is a lot of very good talent. We feel if we can pick it up one more notch, we're right in the game."

Schooled in preps

If you are looking for an edge in picking the Derby, you might check the results of the prep races. Since 1970, the winner of the Florida Derby (Big Brown this year) has won the Derby 11 times, the winner of the Wood Memorial (Tale of Ekati) has won the Derby 10 times, and the winner of the Blue Grass (Monba) and the winner of the Santa Anita Derby (Colonel John) have won the Derby nine times . . . Horses for courses? Two Derby horses have won stakes races at Churchill Downs. Court Vision won the Grade III Iroquois last fall and Anak Nakal won the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club in November.