Killin Me Smalls turns it around in Fred Jones Handicap

Killin Me Smalls came from a stalking position to win the $50,000 Fred Jones Handicap on Saturday at Northlands Park. He paid $10.30 for his 2 1/2-length win over Double Bear in the 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-olds and up.

With Larry Munoz riding the 8-year-old Ontario-bred in a race for the first time, Killin Me Smalls hugged the rail while sitting just off Sir Bronx and Double Bear, who dueled through a quick interior fractions of 23.89 and 47.34 seconds. He moved off the rail to go three wide and engaged the leaders at the quarter pole. Killin Me Smalls opened up a 1 1/2-length advantage over Double Bear turning for home, and he never looked threatened. Double Bear held on well to finish a length in front of Aqua Frio who rallied late for third.

The final time was 1:43.13.

Killin Me Smalls was the champion older horse in Alberta for the last three years. Munoz has been the regular exercise rider for the son of Marcavelly the past year and a half.

“He sat perfectly for me,” said Munoz. “He was on his 'A' game today, and when I saw the 23-second first quarter split I got pretty excited.”

It was the first win for Killin Me Smalls since he edged Royal Warrior by a neck in the Speed to Spare last Sept. 2. He was coming off a last-place finish in the $50,000 Spangled Jimmy June 9.

Killin Me Smalls is trained by Ernie Keller and owned by Deltin Stable and Ed Welsh. The $29,400 winner’s share of the purse brought his lifetime earnings to $696,835.

“After his last start the owners were thinking of retiring him,” said Keller. “I was hoping we could find something to turn him around, and it looks like we did.”