KY Racing

Jeanine Rees had a good piece in this Sunday's C-J profiling trainer, Larry Jones, a local KY boy, who has moved his operation to Delaware. Jones grew up in KY, has family here, and there's probably no place he'd rather be training thoroughbreds. But, with the influx of purse money being what is it in Delaware, the grass is greener over there, promting a relocation. Also being on the east coast it gives LJ an easier option of shipping to nearby Maryland or New York. He won the G1 Prioress at Belmont and a stakes race at Saratoga with Wildcat Betty B, and also had X Star in the recent Spinaway. The point is that losing a trainer like Jones is becoming more of a trend and will delude the quality of racing in KY over the long haul, if it hasn't already. While I personally don't like to see slot machines acessible on every corner, you would think KY with it's rich horse racing tradition will have to do something eventually in order to keep up with the Joneses (no pun intended).