Turner Farms’ Jess Lyndes Reason (photo) and Bobby Cox’s Jeanetics, a pair of promising 2-year-old homebred fillies, posted winning debuts in their respective races on Saturday night at Los Alamitos.
Highly touted since her first gate drill, Jess Lyndes Reason broke in and bumped before rallying to score a half-length victory in the seventh race in a time of :15.687. Ridden by Jesus Rios Ayala for trainer Paul Jones, Jess Lyndes Reason’s winning time in this race is the third fastest posted by a 2-year-old so far this season. She came into this race after posting the fastest of 67 works by a 2-year-old when going 220 yards in :12.10 on March 21.
“She had a tough post in the two hole,” Jones said. “She did really good. First time I worked her she was the fastest of any of my horses. The second time I worked her she was the fastest of any of my horses. She’s been the little star of the barn so far. I was as nervous watching this race as I was watching the All American. When you have one that you like so much, you just want everything to go right. We’re happy that we got a good race.”
Sired by Good Reason SA, Jess Lyndes Reason is out of the Turner Farms-owned Feature Mr Jess mare Jess Send Me, the runner-up in the 2011 All American Futurity. The talented filly is a half-sister to Jess Macho Corona, the runner-up in the 2019 Grade 1 All American Derby and 2018 Grade 1 Golden State Million Futurity. Turner Farms and Gary Nutt campaigned Jess Macho Corona.
Gentry Farms’ College Scandal, a Kentucky-bred filly by Coronas Leaving You, finished second with Ed Allred’s Favorite Role running third.
Rios Ayala was also aboard the Jaime Gomez-trained Oklahoma-bred Jeanetics in the eighth race for 2-year-olds. Sired by Mr Jess Perry and out of the Corona Cartel mare All N The Jeans, Jeanetics bumped at the start but recovered quickly to post a 1 ¼ length victory over Hez Fired Up and Hi High Hopes, who dead-heated for second. Jeanetics covered the distance in :15.734. Her granddam is the Bobby Cox-owned and bred mare All About Ease ($309,503), the winner of the 2004 Ruidoso Futurity. Jeanetics is eligible to the Robert Adair Kindergarten Futurity trials to be held here on Sunday, May 3.
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For the second straight night, the handle for the live racing program at Los Alamitos Race Course resulted in a record after $2,362,704 was wagered on the 10-race card. Saturday’s figure bettered Friday’s mark of $2,310,716 and was only $16,408 shy of the all-sources record handle of $2,379,112 set on November 1, 2003. Live racing resumes here on Sunday night with a 10-race program getting underway at 6 p.m.
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