SHELBYVILLE, Ind. (Sept. 11, 2019) – A friendship and partnership that goes back to the 1980’s between jockey and trainer is sometimes unstoppable. That was the case in the 23rd running of the $100,000 Brickyard Stakes Wednesday, Sept. 11 at Indiana Grand. Jockey Jon Court got the call from Trainer Bobby Barnett and he was there to ride Little Kansas to the victory with a perfectly timed move for the win by a nose in 1:10.95.
“Our friendship goes way back,” said Barnett. “It goes back to the 1980’s in Louisiana.”
Starting from the outside post 10 in the six furlong sprint, Court was able to get Little Kansas into the middle of the pack at the start as Mr Manning and Fernando De La Cruz claimed the top spot from the gate. You Go Boy and Jose Riquelme sat to their outside followed by Will Knows and Orlando Mojica. The rest of the field followed along gapping back in a second group.
Around the turn, the late closers began to bunch up and by the time the top of the stretch arrived, the entire field of 10 was within striking distance of the top spot. Mr Manning held strong and was identified as the one to catch. He fended off inside foes and had Operation Stevie and Emmanuel Esquivel coming at him from the outside. On the far outside, Little Kansas was in gear and gaining ground with every stride. At the finish, Little Kansas was able to get the head bob over Mr Manning for the win. Operation Stevie was third just a half-length off the winner at the wire.
“We were in the second flight today and I didn’t want him to have too much to do too late by being too far back,” explained Court. “But he was able to relax and stay in his position early.”
Overlooked by the betting public, Little Kansas paid $68.00, $23.80, $20.00 across the board. The four-year-old son of El Kingdom is now three for five in 2019 and increased his career bankroll to more than $160,000 for owners Andrew Ritter and Debbie Barnett.
“This isn’t the first time Bobby (Barnett) has done this to me,” smiled Court. “This was the first time I’ve ridden this horse, but Bobby has put me on a lot of times for the first time in races like this and we’ve had success. That just shows the confidence there is. I got instructions from him about typically how this horse runs best, and I just wanted to save enough and hope for the win. Bobby said he would finish, and he did. I really want to thank the owners and Bobby for putting me on him today.”
With such an intense stretch drive, having a veteran rider such as Court aboard is a major advantage. Court, who was Indiana’s leading rider in the late 1990s before relocating to Kentucky and later to Southern California, has more than 4,160 wins to his credit. He has ridden in over 34,000 races during his career and has multiple Graded Stakes wins, including two wins in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby and two wins in the Grade 3 Indiana Derby. Court has been in that position many times with a big late rally needed to win a race.
“When you have ground to make up like that in the stretch, you are just hoping everything comes together,” explained Court. “I wanted to save ground but at the same time, I didn’t want to get in too close. There was a lot of bumping and everyone was very close. Sometimes a horse will feed off of that from other horses. Sometimes you have to ride on instinct.”
Comments