Jones hoping for less drama with I'm a Chatterbox

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – If the Grade 1 Delaware Handicap didn’t give trainer Larry Jones flashbacks to last summer, then the drive this week to Saratoga almost surely will.

Sometime in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Jones will be driving a horse trailer bringing I’m a Chatterbox to Saratoga for Saturday’s Grade 1, $750,000 Personal Ensign. Last summer, Jones twice brought I’m a Chatterbox here. Though she finished first in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks, I’m a Chatterbox was disqualified and placed second for interfering with Curalina. In her second trip here, I’m a Chatterbox finished second in the Grade 1 Alabama.

In last month’s Delaware Handicap, I’m a Chatterbox finished first but had to withstand an objection after she impeded several horses at the start. The connections of Delaware Handicap runner-up Paid Up Subscriber claimed foul, but it was disallowed.

“We were lucky that that came out the right way,” Jones said. “I think the thing that saved me there was that I sure didn’t get an advantage over anybody else because when it was all said and done, I was the one last getting out of the pileup. I still had to outrun them all from there. If I had gotten a three- or four-length headstart after doing all that, I think I would have been in trouble.”

The Personal Ensign will bring I’m a Chatterbox together with both Curalina and Paid Up Subscriber as well as Grade 1 winners Forever Unbridled and Cavorting.

On Monday, I’m a Chatterbox completed preparations for the Personal Ensign with a five-furlong workout in 59.80 seconds at Delaware.

“Even before we had the time, we knew it was a good work, just the way she did it, how strong she was,” Jones said.

I’m a Chatterbox will keep jockey Florent Geroux, who rode Cavorting to victory in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps last out. Cavorting will be ridden by Javier Castellano.