Jones tries three in Lecomte

There are 15 entered in the Lecomte, but six horses come from just two barns, with Larry Jones as well as Steve Asmussen three-handed for the race.

Jones entered Believe in Royalty, Kowboy Karma, and Prince Lucky, all of whom put in their final Lecomte works Sunday. All three went five furlongs with Prince Lucky going a bullet 1:00.20.

“That was with an exercise rider up, too,” said Jones. “He worked very well.”

Prince Lucky has won 3 of 4 starts, including a last-out score in the Pennsylvania Nursery Stakes at Parx Racing. In his lone loss, Prince Lucky shied from the crop, and Julien Leparoux, who has the mount Saturday, will not even carry a stick.

“The horse has a lot of talent, but he’s got a little bit of a mental issue, too,” said Jones. “If he sees the stick, he thinks the fight is on. We knew even in his first race what he was like, that you can’t rough him around a lot. You have to handle him like candy. He’s one of those you don’t want to make the lead too early because he might turn around and go the other way. After his race at Laurel we couldn’t get him to come back to the winner’s circle – he just refused to go. We’ve learned to deal with him, though. He likes training now.”

Kowboy Karma ran the best race of Jones’s trio when he finished a close fourth in the Grade 1 Champagne. Jones said Kowboy Karma displaced his palate in that start, and following a second-place finish as the favorite Nov. 11 in the six-furlong James Lewis Stakes, Kowboy Karma had minor throat surgery, a myectomy, to try and correct the problem.

Believe in Royalty, a $900,000 sales buy by Tapit out of Kentucky Oaks winner Believe You Can (whom Jones trained), also has been a project.

“Early on he was very aggressive, wanted to be studdish,” Jones said. “I would keep threatening him that I’d castrate him, but he was like, ‘Nope, I’m by Tapit out of an Oaks winner; you ain’t castrating me!’ He has finally started growing up, getting his mind on racing rather than playing.”

Believe in Royalty had won two straight before finishing sixth at odds of 3-1 last out in the Springboard Mile, but he came out of the race with mucus in his respiratory system, Jones said.

◗ Wonder Gadot, who won the Demoiselle Stakes last out, was cross-entered in the Silverbulletday Stakes and the Lecomte on Saturday. Trainer Mark Casse said a final decision about where she runs might not be made until Saturday, but that owner Gary Barber “might be leaning toward the filly race,” the Silverbulletday. Casse has a second horse, Alcibiades Stakes winner Heavenly Love, who is running in the Silverbulletday.