Tampabay downs media guide 16-0273-JK2

Owner Profiles
Jagger, Inc.
Owner: Jamie and Mandy Ness
Residence: Odessa, FL
Family: Daughters, Hannah, Emma and Jessy Smith
Circuit: Tampa Bay Downs, Laurel, Pimlico, Monmouth, Delaware
Jamie Ness is known primarily for his training prowess, but the Jagger, Inc.,
operation of Ness and his wife Mandy is making a strong impact at Tampa Bay
Downs and other racetracks. The Jagger operation won the owners title at the
Oldsmar oval in 2015-2016 with 15 victories, breaking the six-year stranglehold
of Midwest Thoroughbreds on the top spot. Ironically, Ness was the long-time
trainer for Midwest before it moved its horses to various other tracks under
other trainers. At Tampa Bay Downs, the Jagger success story goes back to the
2009-2010 meeting, when Ness sent out the then-4-year-old gelding Sneaking
Uponyou to win the Pelican Stakes against the likes of 2008 Tampa Bay Derby
winner Big Truck. Later that season, Sneaking Uponyou captured the Turf Dash
Stakes (Ness also trained the runner-up, Probation Ready, for primary client
Midwest Thoroughbreds, Inc.), and the one-time claimer was even better as a
5-year-old, taking the Hilton Garden Inn/Hampton Inn & Suites Sprint on Florida
Cup Day in (then) track-record time of 1:08.69 for six furlongs. But the best
was yet to come; three years later, Sneaking Uponyou again won the Florida
Cup Hilton Garden Inn/Hampton Inn & Suites Sprint, speeding the distance in
1:09.08, only .41 seconds off the track record. The soft-spoken Ness had won
the track’s training title nine seasons in a row before being knocked from his
perch in 2015-2016 by Gerald Bennett. Ness had shared the No. 1 spot with
Kathleen O’Connell during the 2009-10 meeting and with Bennett in 2010-11.
His best year came in 2012, when Ness led all North American conditioners
with 395 victories. He had finished second in 2011 and 2010 with 330 and 291,
respectively, and was again in the top 10 at the outset of the current meeting.
Ness wrapped up his most recent Oldsmar training title in style during the 2014-
2015 meeting by winning 28 races from his last 68 starters to overtake Bennett
for the title.
Lael Stables
Owner: Roy and Gretchen Jackson
Residence: West Grove, Pa.
Family: Four children
Farm Location: West Grove, Pa.
Tampa Trainer: Arnaud Delacour
The Jacksons sprang into prominence in 2006 when they sent two unbeaten
horses to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands. Their homebred
colt Barbaro extended his record to 6-for-6, while the other Jackson entrant,
Showing Up, finished sixth. Barbaro was severely injured in the Preakness, and
although the couple tried diligently to save him by sending him to the University
of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center, Barbaro died the following January from
complications resulting from laminitis. Showing Up concluded his 3-year-old
season by winning the Grade I Secretariat Stakes and the Grade I Hollywood
Derby, and Lael Stables earned an Eclipse Award as Outstanding Owner in
2006. In 2015, current trainer Arnaud Delacour used the Tampa Bay Downs
surface to develop another promising Lael Stables homebred, Divining Rod.
The colt finished second in the Grade III Sam F. Davis Stakes and third in the
Grade II Tampa Bay Derby. Divining Rod went on to win the Grade III Coolmore
Lexington Stakes at Keeneland before a third-place finish in the Xpressbet.
com Preakness, won by American Pharoah. Other Grade I winners for the outfit
include Precious Kitten and Check the Label. The Jacksons’ 190-acre farm,
formerly Walnut Green, was named Lael after the Gaelic word for loyalty. They
raise their young horses in Kentucky, and upon retirement many are sent home
to West Grove, where they are transitioned into careers after racing. Gretchen
Jackson, who has a Master’s degree in pastoral counseling, worked for more
than a decade counseling children of alcoholics and drug abusers.
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