Comely next for House Rules

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – House Rules, who won an off-the-turf second-level allowance race in the mud Thursday, likely will make her next start in the Grade 3, $400,000 Comely Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on Nov. 29, trainer Jimmy Jerkens said Friday.

It was the second allowance win in the last three starts for House Rules, who in between finished last behind Untapable in the Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx on Sept. 20. Jerkens, who took over the training of House Rules earlier this year from his father, Allen, said Javier Castellano rode the filly Thursday the way she wants to be ridden.

“She likes to be in races where she can be forwardly placed,” Jimmy Jerkens said. “Don’t take that away from her down the backside. She likes to be laying in a spot where she’s in a forward position instead of getting outrun.”

House Rules earned a career-best 93 Beyer Speed Figure for her Thursday allowance win.

Earlier this year at Gulfstream Park, House Rules finished second in the Davona Dale and second in the Gulfstream Park Oaks, which was run at 1 1/8 miles, the distance of the Comely.

Jerkens said that V. E. Day, the Travers winner, came out of his 11th-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Classic in good order and will soon be shipped to Ocala, Fla., for a freshening.

“We’ll probably pick him back up in January,” Jerkens said.