Brereton Jones's Lovely Maria wins the Kentucky Oaks

Lovely Maria, owned by former Gov. Brereton Jones of Midway, won the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs Friday afternoon. In this image taken from Louisville's WAVE-TV, Jones holds the trophy in front of trainer Larry Jones (no relation). At left are jockey Kerwin Clark and the former governor's wife, Libby Jones. At far right is Lt. Gov. Crit Luallen, who presented the trophy and served in Jones's 1991-95 administration as tourism secretary. It marked the third victory for the Jones owner-trainer team in the Oaks in eight years.

"I know that my family and I are blessed; I don't know why it has happened," Jones said at a press conference after the race. "But for some reason it's happened, and we could not be more thankful. And we recognize that this happened because of a big team effort. It happened because people at the farm have done the right things. . . . The trainer then gets to look 'em over and start training them, and we leave him alone; and then he gets the jockey, and he gets a good jockey, and he leaves the jockey alone, and I just kind of sit back and say, 'Man, this is fun.' And sure enough, it all works."