O Dionysus, Jenda's Agenda solid favorites

There are five stakes at Laurel Park on Saturday, but the Private Terms and the Caesar’s Wish, $100,000 races for 3-year-olds, feature the most promising runners.

O Dionysus figures to be a solid favorite in the 1 1/16-mile Private Terms. Trainer Gary Capuano will finally have the opportunity to try O Dionysus, a son of Bodemeister, around two turns, something he has long wanted to do.

Jenda’s Agenda likely will be an even shorter price when she takes on seven fillies in the one-mile Caesar’s Wish. Trained by Larry Jones, Jenda’s Agenda has won both of her career starts – a six-furlong maiden race and a two-turn optional claimer – at the current Fair Grounds meet.

Jones is in the process of relocating his stable from New Orleans to Delaware Park and on Thursday morning was a bit uncomfortable as he shed-rowed his horses during the Mid-Atlantic cold snap.

Jenda’s Agenda is by the stallion Proud Citizen, who was euthanized last June at Airdrie Stud after battling laminitis for several years. Her dam is Just Jenda, a seven-time stakes winner and an earner of $750,000. Proud Citizen and Just Jenda are special horses to Jones and his wife, Cindy.

Proud Citizen is the sire of Proud Spell and Believe You Can. Both were trained by Jones and won the Kentucky Oaks for owner and breeder Brereton Jones. Larry Jones also trained Mark Valeski, who is by Proud Citizen. Mark Valeski won the Peter Pan and finished second in the Louisiana Derby and Risen Star in 2012.

“Jenda’s Agenda is just like a lot of the Proud Citizens I’ve had,” Jones said. “She’s not very big in stature, but she is big of heart and desire.”

Larry and Cindy Jones bred Just Jenda and raced her from 2008-10. Jenda’s Agenda is her first foal to make it to the races. According to Larry Jones, she aborted her first foal, and the second died at six weeks of age.

Rick Porter’s Fox Hill Farms bought a half-interest in Jenda’s Agenda after she won her maiden, according to Jones, which is part of the reason she is running in the Caesar’s Wish rather than the upcoming Fair Grounds Oaks.

“We looked around at different spots, but Mr. Porter’s not in the best of health, and we thought it would be easier for him to see her here,” Jones said.

The top challengers to Jenda’s Agenda will be Crabcakes, who is 3 for 4 in her career for trainer Bernie Houghton, and Sine Wave, who is undefeated in two starts for Bennie Perkins Jr.

O Dionysus comes into the Private Terms off a three-length victory in the one-mile Miracle Wood at Laurel in February.

“We’re looking forward to going two turns with him,” Capuano said. “I think he’ll be fine at the distance, but he still has to go out there and do it.”

O Dionysus started six times at 2 and has raced twice this year. He has a 3-3-1 record for Peter Angelos, the majority owner of the Baltimore Orioles.

“I’ve always thought he was the type of horse that needed more racing before he would be at his best,” Capuano said. “He’s maturing a lot now, and we’ll just see how far he can go.”

Twisted Tom, who is coming off a statebred first-level allowance win at Aqueduct for Chad Brown, is a top contender in the Private Terms, as is High Roller, who defeated O Dionysus by a half-length in the Frank Whiteley Jr. Stakes at Laurel in January.