Fair Grounds: Prayer for Relief passes $1.5 million milestone by taking Tenacious

NEW ORLEANS – With a quick move along the rail entering the final turn, Prayer for Relief took charge of the $75,000 Tenacious Handicap, and he drew away to a 6 1/4-length Saturday at Fair Grounds.

Ridden by David Flores for Zayat Stables and trainer Steve Asmussen, Prayer for Relief rebounded from a ninth-place finish in the Grade 1 Clark Handicap on Nov. 29 at Churchill Downs. He won for the third time in seven starts this year and for the eighth time in 25 career starts.

"He's a tremendous horse,'' said Asmussen, who has been training Prayer for Relief since August 2012. "I'm so fortunate to have him. What's he made, a million and a half? Lovely animal. Lovely.''

A 5-year-old son of Jump Start, Prayer for Relief, a multiple graded-stakes winner, increased his career earnings to $1,580,913.

Ground Transport held off Agent Di Nozzo by a head for second in a field of eight older horses.

Flores gave Prayer for Relief a smooth trip. He settled in third place along the inside, behind leader Ground Transport and stalker Grand Contender, through an opening half-mile run in 48.19 seconds. At about the half-mile pole, Prayer for Relief zipped inside the top pair, and he wasn't threatened the rest of the way.

"He's a lovely horse to ride,'' Flores said. "There was plenty left there.''

Prayer for Relief ran the mile and a sixteenth in 1:43.78 and paid $9.

Divine Beauty rolls in Letellier

The Jones boys and jockey Rosie Napravnik appear to have another filly with Oaks potential.

Former Kentucky Gov. Brereton Jones owns and bred Divine Beauty, who is trained by Larry Jones. With Napravnik riding, Divine Beauty ran away with the $60,000 Letellier Memorial by 6 1/2 lengths.

After settling at the back of pack as Closing Report, pressed by Street Story, battled through a quarter-mile run in 22.04 seconds, Divine Beauty swept to the lead entering the stretch and pulled away. She ran six furlongs in 1:10.66 and paid $5.20.

Street Story finished second, 2 3/4 lengths in front of third-place Toni's Holiday, in a field of five 2-year-old fillies.

The Joneses and Napravnik won the Fair Grounds Oaks and Kentucky Oaks with Believe You Can in 2012. In 2008, the Joneses teamed for their first sweep of those races, with Proud Spell, ridden by Gabriel Saez.

"It's does look like we've got one,'' Brereton Jones said of Divine Spell, a daughter of Divine Park and the Ghazi mare Ghazo. "This filly could be an Oaks filly.''

Larry Jones said he thinks that Divine Spell will excel around two turns.

"She sure trains like she will,'' Larry Jones said. "She finished running today like she's going to.''

Albano holds off Be Well in Sugar Bowl

Albano pushed past pacesetter D'cajun Cat at the top of the stretch, then held off Be Well in the final furlong to win the $60,000 Sugar Bowl for 2-year-olds by 1 1/4 lengths.

A half-brother of graded-stakes winner Mark Valeski, Albano, a son of Istan, gave owner/breeder Brereton Jones and trainer Larry Jones a sweep of the stakes for 2-year-olds. Kerwin Clark rode Albano, who ran six furlongs in 1:11.50. He paid $5.

"He is such a nice colt,'' Clark said. "You can do anything you want with him. In the mornings, you've got to ride him hard to make him work in 1:02. He relaxed and did everything I asked him to do.''

Larry Jones said: "We hope he does what Mark Valeski did and maybe one better.''

In Kentucky Derby preps at the Fair Grounds in 2012, Mark Valeski finished second in the Risen Star and Louisiana Derby.