Albano win in Haskell could raise profile of sire Istan

Owner-breeder Brereton Jones and trainer Larry Jones have developed some top 3-year-olds together. Next Sunday, they will try to get the consistent and improving Albano a Grade 1 win in the $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park.

Two years ago, the Joneses won the Grade 2 Peter Pan with Albano’s older brother, Mark Valeski, following narrow losses in the Louisiana Derby and Risen Star Stakes. That same year, they won the Kentucky Oaks and Fair Grounds Oaks with Believe You Can. In 2008, they won those same two races with Proud Spell and added the Alabama and Delaware Oaks for good measure. Proud Spell was named champion 3-year-old filly that year.

Albano is not as proven as that trio, but his recent 6 1/2-length win over the Monmouth track in the Grade 3 Pegasus Stakes points out his potential.

“The Haskell is a great opportunity for Albano, but it is going to be a very difficult race,” Brereton Jones said Friday. “There are some very good horses in it, and I think Albano is one of them.”

Over the winter, Albano raced in every leg of the Fair Grounds series. He won the six-furlong Sugar Bowl, was second in the Grade 3 Lecomte, and was beaten a nose on the wire by Intense Holiday in the Grade 2 Risen Star (just as Mark Valeski was by El Padrino in 2012).

The series finale, the Louisiana Derby, is the only time Albano has finished off the board. Following a wide trip, he was elevated from fifth to fourth by the stewards for being bumped nearing the far turn. Take your pen and draw a line through that running line.

Albano hasn’t skipped a beat since. He is based at Delaware Park, where he has been working steadily for Larry Jones since April. Brereton Jones is pleased with how he has progressed.

“He’s doing so well right now,” Jones said. “He’s a very competitive horse, and he just keeps getting better.”

Brereton Jones, a former governor of Kentucky (1991-95), is the dean of Airdrie Stud, outside Midway, Ky. He stands Albano’s sire, Istan, who has been a difficult sell during the recessionary times of the last six years.

“Istan to me is a very underrated stallion,” Jones said. “His entire 3-year-old crop is 12 horses. I was breeding to him, but the public was not. I said I can’t just let him go to pot, so I have supported him with my own mares.”

In addition to Albano, Istan’s 3-year-olds include the filly Istanford, who beat males in the Grade 3 Arlington Classic on turf and who is entered in the Grade 2 San Clemente at Del Mar on Saturday; Myositis Dan, who closed fast to be beaten two noses when third in the Grade 3 Derby Trial; and Keep Crossing, who is entered Sunday in the $70,000 Miss Woodford at Monmouth. Jones owns Myositis Dan and Keep Crossing.

Not only would a Haskell win put Albano on the national radar, it would give Istan a significant bump in visibility, too.

◗ The Joneses have Sea View Chico entered in a second-level optional claimer Sunday at Monmouth. In his last three starts, Sea View Chico, a son of the Airdrie stallion Divine Park, has finished second in the $50,000 Texas Heritage Stakes to Ibaka, a winner of 5 of 7 starts; finished fourth, beaten 1 3/4 lengths, in the $100,000 Sir Barton Stakes on the Preakness undercard; and finished second in the $50,000 Stanton at Delaware to Joint Custody, a three-time stakes winner.