Jones has top pair for Houston Ladies Classic

Cassatt and Blue Violet are bringing Larry Jones to Sam Houston Race Park for Saturday night’s $400,000 Houston Ladies Classic, and the trainer could not be more pleased to spend time in the Lone Star State. The horses give him a formidable one-two punch in the richest Thoroughbred race in Texas, a stakes he captured in its inaugural running two years ago with Joyful Victory.

“My cowboy hat blends in real good out there,” Jones said Wednesday. “I feel quite at home ... and this race is a really good fit for us.”

Cassatt figures to start as a strong favorite against seven other fillies and mares. She is in peak form – chasing her third straight stakes win – and is a candidate to control the pace. Blue Violet, meanwhile, is a late runner coming off a third-place finish in the $100,000 She’s All In at Remington Park. Others making up the field include defending champ Rose to Gold; the 10-time stakes winner Angelica Zapata; Indiana Grand and Remington Oaks winner Shanon Nicole; and Pago Hope heroine Kiss to Remember.

The Houston Ladies Classic, at 1 1/16 miles, is one of four stakes on a card that includes the Grade 3, $200,000 Connally Turf Cup. The races are worth a cumulative $725,000, making for the most lucrative program of Thoroughbred racing in Texas. Sam Houston will offer an all-stakes pick four on the races with a minimum guaranteed pool of $100,000. The 50-cent bet also will have a reduced 12 percent takeout. It runs on races 5-8.

Key contenders

Cassatt (Last 3 Beyers: 91-88-76)

* She’s shown talent in her young career, winning five of eight starts at distances of five furlongs to 1 1/16 miles. Her stakes wins have come in the Grade 3 Monmouth Park Oaks in August, the $300,000 Zia Park Oaks in November, and the $50,000 Tiffany Lass against older rivals at Fair Grounds in her most recent start Dec. 21.

“She’s really, really nice,” said Jones, who trains Cassatt for Fox Hill Farms. “Talent-wise, I can put her in a mouthful with some of the very best horses I’ve ever gotten to train.”

* Past runners for Jones include 2011 Horse of the Year Havre de Grace.

* Cassatt’s stock has risen even further since the Zia Park Oaks, a 1 1/16-mile race she won by 4 1/2 lengths Nov. 26.

“The New Mexico race turned out really, really well,” said Jones. “It was a race we weren’t expected to win, and if you look at the horse who ran second, Thegirlinthatsong, she just won the Grade 2 La Canada at Santa Anita.”

* Jones said Cassatt, who will break from post 8 under Kerwin Clark, brings a high cruising speed to the table.

“The beauty part about her is she can gallop really fast,” Jones said. “She gets out there on a nice gallop stride, which is going pretty fast, which has her out on the front end. But she does it very comfortable.”

Blue Violet (Last 3 Beyers: 77-76-81)

* She was a 10-length allowance winner in July, one start before capturing a Monmouth Park stakes in September.

“This filly is just getting to her best right now,” said Jones, who trains Blue Violet for Houston resident Susan Knoll. “She’s really at the top of her training, doing everything well.”