Chunk of Gold, Publisher Carry Derby Hopes for Airdrie

During Airdrie Stud founder and former Kentucky Gov. Brereton Jones's lengthy illness, Bret Jones said he and his father would share joy riding across the farm. "When he was going through the memory issues that he had, one of the great things that we could always still do together was me driving through the farm and (to) show him the foals," Bret Jones said of his father who died in September 2023. Two of those foals—in one of the last crops Jones would see—will give Jones a chance at adding to one of the most consequential biographies in Kentucky history: becoming the breeder of a Kentucky Derby (G1) winner. "I guarantee you Pop had a good look at Publisher and a good look at Chunk of Gold and had a big smile on his face at the time," said Bret Jones, who is Airdrie's president. "Dad doesn't need anything else on his résumé," Jones said."He lived one of the most incredible lives of any humans I've ever known, but if we could get lucky enough to be able to to celebrate him as the breeder of a Kentucky Derby winner, that would obviously be very, very special for the Jones family." Chunk of Gold, owned by Terry Stephens and runner-up in the Louisiana Derby (G2), is a son of Preservationist out of the Cairo Prince mare Play for Gold. He sold for $2,500 at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearling Sale. Publisher, although still a maiden, enters as the runner-up in the Arkansas Derby (G1). The son of 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah is out of the Proud Citizen mare Indian Pride. He sold for $600,000 at Fasig-Tipton's 2023 The Saratoga Sale, its select yearling sale in New York. Publisher also would add the words "Kentucky Derby owner" to the governor's résumé. Jones had hoped that, as Kentucky's chief executive from 1991-1995, he'd have the conundrum of presenting the Derby trophy to himself—repeatedly, he said he would have handed the trophy to his wife, Libby Jones. "He didn't get a chance to do that, but I think in the back of his mind, he believed that it would happen, and we'll see if this is that opportunity," Bret Jones said. Arguably the closest Jones came while governor was the 1992 Derby won by Lil E. Tee. The colt was owned by his friend W. Cal Partee and Lil E. Tee's sire At the Threshold stood at Airdrie. The race also was pivotal for the younger Jones. "It was as profound a moment as I've had, as far as falling in love with horse racing, because I was 11 years old, and I knew what the race meant to dad having the stallion. I could see it. I could see how excited he was. I could see how excited our whole family was," so the son bet $5 across on the 16.80-1 shot. "I'm pretty sure dad booked (the bet) because he didn't honestly believe the horse was going to win the race," Jones said, "but true to his word, he did pay out. So, I had more money than I ever thought I'd see in my life in my pocket leaving leaving Churchill Downs that day." The former governor's résumé already includes being the owner of three Kentucky Oaks (G1) winners and breeding two of those three. After the first of those, Proud Spell's 2008 Oaks win, the elder Jones was asked whether it was a bigger thrill to be elected governor of Kentucky or to win the Oaks. "To be honest, this may sound crazy," the former governor said to The Courier-Journal, "probably the stretch today. Because this was a boyhood dream. I didn't have a boyhood dream to be governor. I had a boyhood dream to race horses in Kentucky, and somehow I kind of got into politics because I wanted to contribute and do my share. But politics gets old in a hurry. The horse business never gets old." Both Joneses always have said that Airdrie's chief role is as a commercial seller and that owning racehorses comes after. But even primarily as a breeder, the odds of having two horses bred by one farm among the 17,146 foals from 2022 to reach the Derby starting gate isn't lost on Airdrie's team. If both run, it will be Brereton Jones's eighth and ninth Derby entrants as a breeder. Breeding a Kentucky Derby starter is "always the goal, of course, but it's it's a pretty unlikely goal to achieve, obviously," Jones said. "We are very fortunate. There's about 10,000 things that can go wrong from the time a foal is born to them being in the starting gate at the Kentucky Derby. And with these two, we've been able to avoid any of those problems, and they're both uber-talented horses. So we've gotten to the day, and now we'll see what the day has in store for us." But focusing on commercial breeding doesn't mean you don't dream about the winner's circle as an owner. Publisher is the farm's second Derby starter as an owner—King Russell, 15th in 2023, was the other. "Honestly, when (King Russell) ran poorly, we all sort of said to each other, we are never going to run in this race again unless we really believe we have a chance," Jones said. "And now here we are back with a horse that's never actually won a horse race. But I can promise you we would not be running in this race if we didn't think that Publisher had the talent to run a competitive race. And the confidence that (trainer) Steve (Asmussen) has in him and the confidence that I think (jockey) Irad (Ortiz Jr.) has in Steve to accept the mount hopefully indicates that we're all on the same page. We're going to give them the opportunity, and find out later whether it was a good idea or not." Jones said that after Gus King purchased Publisher at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling sale, he approached King, who he "didn't really know" at the time, about partnering because of how much they liked Publisher as a yearling. "It's pretty remarkable to think from that conversation in August a couple of years ago to now, being this close to the starting gate of the Kentucky Derby, it's what makes the sport so incredible," he said. "… Sometimes these things do happen the way that you sure hope they will." Jones said there's no speech written, unlike some Oscar nominees, if the Joneses are successful, but you can't help but think about it. "I don't think there's anybody that's owned a racehorse who hasn't practiced their acceptance speech while accepting the Kentucky Derby trophy," Jones said. "We're all optimists, and we're all about halfway nuts, and that lends itself, well, to dreaming big. And that's what you do with horse ownership. And when it works, and I'm not just saying on the Derby stage but in any winner's circle, there's a reason why you see the happiest faces you'll ever see in the winner's circle of a Thoroughbred horse race, because the feeling you get is just incredible. And so your goal is always to have that feeling and on the biggest stage there is, and that's in Louisville." Looking to the future, Play for Gold has not been pronounced in foal this year. Jones said: "Play for Gold has a beautiful Mage filly next to her … as nice a filly as you'd wanna see." With Publisher's dam Indian Pride, "We sold an exceptionally nice Constitution colt out of her in September at Keeneland. And she has two exceptional fillies on the farm right now, an Into Mischief yearling and a Gun Runner filly that's a foal. And so we've bred her, obviously, to what we and so many believe are as good a stallions as there are in the world because we believe she's got the potential to be one of the great broodmares we've had," Jones said. "And certainly to have her first-ever foal compete in the Kentucky Derby gives you gives you confidence to continue to give her every opportunity."