Street Band gives Larry Jones another Fair Grounds Oaks win

Things have changed with the Larry Jones barn at Fair Grounds. Jones has a presence at Oaklawn Park this year and he’ll run fewer horses this winter in New Orleans than at any time since he began stabling at Fair Grounds in the mid-2000s.

One thing that hasn’t changed? Jones training the Fair Grounds Oaks winner. That he did with Proud Spell in 2008, with Believe You Can in 2012, and with I’m A Chatterbox in 2015, and Jones did it again Saturday, sending Street Band out to a $23.80 upset in the Grade 2, $400,000 Fair Grounds Oaks.

Giving the filly a textbook trip was the English import Sophie Doyle, who notched just her second graded-stakes win from 26 tries while landing the biggest prize of her career. Jones has been using Doyle regularly this meet, and she rewarded his confidence by pinning Street Band to the fence, sitting in the pocket until upper stretch before coming outside to gun down Liora for a 3 3/4-length victory.

“It feels tremendous,” said Doyle, whose brother, James, is a top jockey in Europe. “I’m absolutely on top of the world right now.”

Serengeti Empress had beaten Street Band by more than eight lengths last month while easily winning the Rachel Alexandra Stakes, but on Saturday she beat nobody. Serengeti Empress, the 1-5 favorite, got a comfortable lead but offered no resistance when Liora challenged her in upper stretch. She faded to last and was vanned off the course. Trainer Tom Amoss said Serengeti Empress despite racing on Lasix had suffered exercise induced pulmonary hemorrhage during the race but appeared otherwise to be uninjured.

Liora, rated three-deep off a quarter-mile in 24.12 seconds and a half in 47.48 while racing for the first time in blinkers, made a push-button move at the five-sixteenths pole to blow by Slewgoodtobetrue and Serengeti Empress, briefly appearing to be on the way to victory. But as Liora struck the front, Doyle was guiding Street Band to her outside, reaching Liora’s flank at the furlong grounds and drawing away to a convincing win.

“She picked it up down the lane,” Doyle said. “She just accelerated and gave me everything she had.”

Off the moderate splits, Street Band was timed in 1:44.54 for 1 1/16 miles on a fast dirt track. Liora was two lengths better than third-place Sweet Diane, with Eres Tu a one-paced fourth.

The race was a major Kentucky Oaks qualifier distributing 170 qualifying points 100-40-20-10 to the top four finishers.

Street Band is by Istan out of Street Minstrel, by Street Cry, and Jones not only trains the filly, he co-bred her and co-owns her with Cindy Jones and Ray Francis.

Street Band debuted last July and Delaware Park and lost by almost 30 lengths. Jones ran her on Lasix second-time out and Street Band won easily, but it wasn’t until the filly switched to route races late last year that she really found herself. Street Band won a first-level allowance race by a nose Jan. 13 but was no match in the Feb. 16 Rachel Alexandra for loose-on-the-lead Serengeti Empress.

“Going around two turns was the big thing that made the most difference,” said Jones, reached by phone. “All the mother’s babies have wanted to go long. We’ve known the family and we didn’t panic. We stayed patient and gave her some experience, and now she’s finally getting it.”

Street Band travels next week to Churchill Downs, where she’ll train for the Kentucky Oaks. Proud Spell and Believe You Can made that move and both won the Oaks. I’m a Chatterbox finished third in the race, and Jones won the Oaks again in 2015 with Lovely Maria, who also wintered at Fair Grounds.

So yes, this winter has been a little different for Larry Jones. Maybe the spring, particularly the first Friday in May, will bring about a familiar thrill.

– Additional reporting by Jay Privman