Jenda's Agenda handles routing with ease

NEW ORLEANS – Two 3-year-old fillies showed off their talent in dirt-route races at Fair Grounds over the weekend.

On Sunday, Jenda’s Agenda won her second race from as many starts and aced her transition from a sprint to a route in a first-level allowance. Jenda’s Agenda beat the talented filly Stonetacular by one length but was eased up in the final furlong and basically galloped across the finish. She ran one mile and 70 yards in 1:43.51 and got an 85 Beyer, three points higher than the figure for her blowout debut win last month in a sprint.

“We thought she would handle two turns like that, but that was very impressive,” trainer Larry Jones said just after the race. “Hopefully, we got more good things ahead.”

Jones and his wife, Cindy, owned and campaigned Jenda’s Agenda’s dam, Just Jenda, a graded-stakes-winning dirt-route horse. Just Jenda’s first foal was aborted, and her second died shortly after being born, and Jenda’s Agenda, by Proud Citizen, is her first offspring to make the races. Rick Porter’s Fox Hill Farms bought into Jenda’s Agenda following her debut win, and Jones said Porter would help guide the filly’s upcoming schedule, though the Fair Grounds Oaks on April 1 would be a logical next race.

“We’re going to be thinking about that,” Jones said. “Mr. Porter now gets to be involved in a whole lot of the decision making.”

Daria’s Angel probably is too late on the scene to make the Fair Grounds Oaks, but she showed great potential on Saturday, winning a maiden race in her third start and her first try around two turns. Going straight to the lead, Daria’s Angel ran one mile and 70 yards in 1:43.24, faster than the two races at the distance for colts on the card and good for an 80 Beyer.

Daria’s Angel had twice finished second in maiden sprints late last year, but trainer Bret Calhoun wasn’t surprised that she improved at a route.

“We were very high on this filly from last spring,” Calhoun said. “She was working sensational but kind of tailed off for a little while, so we just backed off and came again. We were prepping her to go long all this time. We’re coming to the show a little late, which is too bad, but I think you have to sit back and stay patient.”

Calhoun said that Finley’sluckycharm, second in the Grade 1 La Brea at Santa Anita in her most recent start, suffered a curbed hock following her sharp breeze here Feb. 2. The filly is back in training but won’t make her next start until the Keeneland meet in April at the earliest.