Cross Breeds

What is Larry Jones gonna do now that he's retired?

I know that the last Derby was his last and Friesian Fire was his last horse. Is he still in the horse racing business now that he's retired?

Public Comments

1. Here is what he said during an interview with Bloodhorse. Ron: Moving right along to our next second most asked question, concerning your plans to retire at the end of this year, is this like full retirement or just a cutting back to where you would sell the small stable in the Midwest, but just not be as high profile and not have as many horses under your care? Larry: Well that is for definite that is going to at least stay that, but I still plan for a full retirement from the training, my wife owns some horses that we’ll continue to race and my wife also has trainers license, I’m all for her if she wants to train them and I’m also supporting her, and if she would like for me to be her exercise rider, I would even try that. But my intentions are to call it quits at least for a very extended stay. I want to play with my grandkids and we’re going to do things that other grandparents and grandchildren get to do. If somebody wants to learn to play softball or baseball or whatever their sport, hopefully I could be there to watch and cheer and maybe help, I don’t know, but I do know this everyday at the barn all day long, has got to stop.
2. He's still got some horses in the barn, he's not out of the game yet. Saturday in the Monmouth Oaks at Monmouth Park, he's sending out the filly Just Jenda. http://www.horseraceinsider.com/blog.php/Press-Release/article/monmouth-park-barn-notes-for-thursday-august-13-2009/ He also has Kodiak Kowboy still in his barn, pointing towards the Grade I Forego on September 5; and Friesian Fire, who has been in Florida recovering from bone-chip surgery and having a screw put into his leg to stabilize a non-displaced condylar fracture, has been back in training and should be returning to Jones' barn any day now. Jones is hoping to have the horse ready for the Cigar Mile on November 28th, which is actually 3 weeks after the retirement date of the Breeders Cup that he's been talking about. Jones has been somewhat vague about his plans, but in several statements he's made, he's indicated that his "retirement" as a trainer isn't necessarily an end to his training horses. He's said he's tired out with the stresses of running a multi-division public stable that races at several tracks, and he's tired of the grind of trying to keep up in the national standings. It sounds like he may train a very select stable for a very few chosen clients and possibly train some horses for himself. It also sounds as if he may try to do something either with pinhooking, or possibly concentrate on breaking yearlings and preparing them for the track, which would be a lot less stressful than operating a large public stable. He and his wife have a farm, which also gives them the option of undertaking a small select breeding progam if that's what they want to do. He's got lots of options and lots of connections. I'm sure he'll stay in the industry in some capacity and probably won't be too far from the backstretch.