In This Race, Jones Already Halfway Home

Trainer Paul Jones appears to have tonight’s eighth race, a $16,550 allowance for 3-year-olds at 300 yards, surrounded.

Jones, who had a record-setting 2003, will send out half of the six entrants -- Frequent Strawflyer, Down Home Chicks and He Could Be The One.

He Could Be The One, a son of First Down Dash, comes off the best race of the three. The gelding was second, beaten by a neck by My Encore in a similar spot on Dec. 13. Ramon Sanchez will ride.

A Texas-bred owned by Ed Calvert, Down Home Chicks has been much troubled in his last two races while Frequent Strawflyer hasn’t come close to winning in his last five races.

Chicks After Me, Rarer Still and La Faire complete the field.

The picks: 1. Hez de Rocket. 2. Don’t Ignore Her. 3. Flacks Snappy Tom. 4. Sign N Dash. 5. Millennium Song. 6. Shems. 7. All Go Win. 8. He Could Be The One. 9. Splash For Glory.

Four! Shems and Tomalosta in the sixth, Alakolada, All Go Win, Fighting Traffic and Rapidly Done Gone in the seventh, Chicks After Me and He Could Be The One in the eighth and Splash For Glory and Riggsmarolle in the ninth.

Shots in the dark: Cave Creek Queen makes her first start for trainer Jesus Nunez in the second. High Bounty comes back after a lengthy layoff in the fifth.

Post Time: 5:30 p.m.

On the Net: For entries and results, from Los Alamitos, visit: www.latimes.com/horseracing/