Ontario-based trainer Dustin Jones is feeling pretty good right now about a decision to buy back homebred pacing filly Nat A Virgin for $9,000 at the Indiana sale two years ago.
Saturday, she’ll start from post one in the $457,500 Fan Hanover final for three-year-old pacing fillies at Mohawk Racetrack.
“If she’s in the first three, I’ll be real happy, but with any kind of a trip, I think she can win. Looks to me like she’s got as good a shot as anyone,” said Jones.
Nat A Virgin, an Always A Virgin filly from the Blissfull Hall mare Nat A Tat Tat, finished third for driver Rick Zeron in a three-horse photo in her Fan Hanover elimination last weekend, won by Uffizi Hanover in 1:51.4.
The week before, she won an $18,000 pace in a career-best 1:50.3. Her four lifetime wins include a track-record 1:52.4 at Hoosier Park as a two-year-old, which helped boost the price of her full brother Newbie at last year’s Indiana sale. He was the sale-topper at $50,000 for Jones and co-owner Lynn Jones (no relation) of Lexington, Ky.
“I liked him, and at $25,000, we’d have kept him, but he went for twice that much,” he said.
They co-owned the dam of both horses, Nat A Tat Tat, who raced in Quebec back when Jones was still based there, and Lynn Jones owned a share of Always A Virgin, which explains why they ended up with an Indiana-bred pacer.
So far, Nat A Virgin has made them $66,640, but she’s also helped restore Jones’s profile after a split with longtime owner Serge Godin last fall, an association that included a couple of Breeders’ Crown wins.
“I went from hero to zero in a matter of six months,” said Jones. “I had three horses when I left. Now I’ve got 24. Things are going well. Danica (a three-year-old trotting filly) finished in a dead-heat for second in an SBOA final. The Muscler (a three-year-old gelding he bought for $8,500 at a sale last fall at The Meadowlands) has four wins and $34,000 collected this year. I’ve got some nice Ontario-sired two-year-olds getting ready to race. And with Nat A Virgin, I’m not hearing anymore that I don’t know to train a pacer.”
(A Trot Insider Exclusive by Paul Delean)
Go get 'em Dustin!
Go get 'em Dustin!
Really glad to see that you
Really glad to see that you never gave up, we all have our bad moments in life and most of us get right back up after a fall. Your determination and self-confidence(always believe in your self)and hard work, you are knowing for your hard work have put you right up where you belong.What ever happend with you and Mr. Godin, I do not know.One thing I do know is that when things are going bad, there is lots of hypocritical talk behind one's back that does a lot of harm to a person, enough glad to see you back up there and lots of luck in the future. Have a good day. Ron