Joneses three-peat in Monmouth Oaks

OCEANPORT, N.J. - No Such Word won the Grade 3, $200,000 Monmouth Oaks Saturday to give the Jones family a natural hat trick - three straight victories in the stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Monmouth Park.

Larry Jones trained the previous two Monmouth Oaks winners: Maren’s Meadow (2008) and Just Jenda (2009). On his retirement last year, Jones turned the stable over to his wife Cindy, who kept the tradition alive.

Bouncing back strongly from a fourth-place finish to Blind Luck in the Delaware Oaks, No Such Word beat Seeking the Title by 1 1/2 lengths for her fourth win in eight starts this season.

After No Such Word turned in a pair of bullet workouts at their Delaware Park home base, Cindy Jones was confident her filly would deliver a big effort.

“I’m tickled to death,” Jones said. “She ran great. I was a little concerned going down the backstretch when they were setting slow fractions and she was a little further back than I thought she would be, but she finished strong.”

Fourth in the early stages while CC’s Pal and Patriot Viva dueled for the lead, No Such Word launched a four wide bid on the final turn and avoided trouble when Absinthe Minded took a bump and was forced to check abruptly.

No Such Word, the 6-5 favorite, took charge turning for home safely and held off a late run from Seeking the Title.

“Last time we were against Blind Luck and we haven’t had enough pace to run at in some of our races,” regular rider Terry Thompson said. “It set up ideally for us. The last race at Delaware, she just didn’t have a punch. After her last work, she really turned around. I was real confident for this race.”

The time was 1:45.10 for the 1 1/16 miles on the fast track.

Following Seeking the Title, it was 8 lengths back to CC’s Pal in third. Patriotic Viva was fourth followed by Worship the Moon and Absinthe Minded.
The stewards reviewed the incident on the final turn involving Absinthe Minded but took no action.

* Rustler Hustler ($29.60) launched a strong rally on the fence to win the $100,500 Continental Mile for 2-year-olds by a neck.
Trained by Tim Hamm, Rustler Hustler made his turf and stakes debut after three sprints on the Tapeta surface at Presque Isle Downs.

“He always wanted more ground,” Hamm said. “I would rather go turf than dirt. Tapeta mimics turf more than dirt. We thought the turf would be a good angle for him.”

Pablo Morales was aboard as Rustler Hustler was timed in 1:35.37 on the firm course.

The Flying Whizzer, the pacesetter at 33-1, and Pluck finished in a dead heat for second. Pluck was disqualified for stretch interference against Powhatan County and placed fourth.