Brereton Jones

Iron Man Cal, the 6-5 favorite, came up a hair short in a three-way photo finish to the GIII Zuma Beach Stakes, but was awarded the victory by the stewards after first-place finisher Artislas was disqualified and placed third. The result gave owners Little Red Feather Racing and Madaket Stable--as well as sire Collected and breeder Brereton Jones--a sweep of the Sunday graded races at Santa Anita after Thought Process (Collected) captured the GIII Surfer Girl Stakes earlier on the card. Iron Man Cal sat just off pacesetting longshot Ivan...

Thought Process turned over a new leaf since switching to a mile on the grass and the Madaket Stables, Little Red Feather Racing and the Estate of Brereton C. Jones runner underscored the point with an emphatic victory in Sunday's GIII Surfer Girl Stakes at Santa Anita. Breaking sharply, the 1-5 favorite soon went to the front, leading the way through a :23.17 quarter mile. Still moving confidently through a :47.69 half, the chestnut cut the corner with authority, drew clear down the lane and crossed the wire an eye-catching...

Thought Process (Collected) held her ground in the stretch of the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf Stakes to secure her first career black-type. Third on debut July 27 when sprinting on the main track, the chestnut found grass to her liking less than a month later, breaking her maiden Aug. 17 when stretched out to a mile and flopped to the turf for the first time. On the back of that performance, which garnered her a Beyer of 82, the betting public crowned her the 2-5 favorite and she did...

Noted rebounded from a disappointing ninth-place showing in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile last month to score his second stakes victory of the season in the Pulpit S. Victorious in Monmouth's Sapling S. in August after breaking his maiden at Saratoga, he missed graded victory by a nose Oct. 8 in Keeneland's GII Bourbon S. and finished way back in the field last month at the Breeders' Cup. Breaking as the 6-5 favorite and bumping with the outside runner, Noted settled in seventh for the lion's share of the race...

Grade I winner Zandon (Upstart--Memories Prevail, by Creative Cause) has been retired and has arrived at Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky ahead of stallion duty in 2024, the farm announced. The dark bay will stand for $12,500 stands and nurses and will participate in Spendthrift's "Share the Upside" program on a limited basis for a fee of $15,000 for two years. "We are excited about Zandon and the ability to offer a Grade I winner with his physical through our Share The Upside program. He's what they should look like," said...

Anyone who ever knew Brereton C. Jones can stop reading now. I won't be telling you anything new. He was smart, kind and compassionate. And that is a rare trifecta. But he was so much more than that. Nearly two decades ago, when I first started Old Friends, I made an appointment to see him at Airdrie Stud, a farm as modest and forthright as he was. "Let me get this straight," he said. "You're going to get these horses, including stallions from Japan, and you're not going to race...

Former Kentucky Governor Brereton C. Jones will lie in state in the rotunda of the Kentucky State Capitol from 10:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m. this coming Monday, September 25.  The family will receive visitors there from 3:00-7:00 p.m. His funeral will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, September 26, at Forks of the Elkhorn Baptist Church, 840 Duckers Road, Midway, Kentucky, followed immediately by a private burial. Jones died Monday at the age of 84 at home after a lengthy illness. Jones served as the Commonwealth's 58th governor from 1991-95 and...

One of the first horsemen I met when hired to cover the Thoroughbred industry full time in 1984 was Brereton Jones, who with his wife, Libby, owned Airdrie Stud on Old Frankfort Pike. As journalists, we must always keep a distance from those we cover, in order to remain neutral in our coverage. But when reporting and writing about a specific topic day in and day out, you can't help but become friends with some of those you encounter. Brere and I instantly became friends. We had many on-the-record conversations,...

First Row Partners and Team Hanley's Prerequisite went wire-to-wire to take the rescheduled GII Wonder Again S. in just her third career start at Belmont Park Sunday. Sent off at 7-1, the bay filly rushed up to take the lead into the first turn and she was tracked by Spansive (Karakontie {Jpn}) through fractions of :23.67 and :47.94 in a strung-out field down the backstretch. She scampered away into the lane and was clear in upper stretch, but was all out to hold off the late-closing Be Your Best. "I...

Bret Jones is the vice president at Airdrie Stud located in Midway, KY, a 2,500-acre breeding operation founded in 1972 by his parents, Governor Brereton Jones and his wife, Elizabeth. He is a graduate of the University of the South (Suwanee) and has formally been a member of the team at Airdrie since 2006. He also serves on the Board of the Breeders' Cup, a position he's held since 2011, and was a commissioner on the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission from 2016-2020. He currently serves on the board of trustees...

A lot of you will know the feeling. Day three of the January Sale, back ring, and your horse is coming back out after a matter of seconds. The digital board had stalled at $2,500, and then cleared. Bret Jones exchanged a grimace with farm manager Ben Henley. Pretty terrible, no getting away from it. But what can you do? It wasn't the first time Airdrie has had to cut its losses on a horse, and nor would it be the last. As his father has always told Bret: "Better...

Our community couldn't have started the most momentous week of its calendar more auspiciously than by absorbing the wit and wisdom--or a sample, at least, of those infinite resources--of Arthur B. Hancock, III of Stone Farm, most deserving Honor Guest at the Thoroughbred Club of America's 89th Testimonial Dinner Monday. But I suspect that we'll need to heed his example and counsel rather more closely, over the coming years, if we are still to invite the world beyond our parish to judge us by the showcase we present the first...