Trainer Larry Jones has indicated that Hard Spun just didn’t care for the racing surface at Oaklawn, even noting that his talented 3-year-old had struggled in his morning works.

And following Saturday’s dominant victory in the Lane’s End Stakes over the polytrack at Turfway Park, who could argue.

Hard Spun raced in attendance to an honest pace, and kicked well clear through the lane while earning a career-best speed figure of 101. The winning triple-digit number was the eighth of the season among two turn Derby preps, joining Ravel (102; Sham), Summer Doldrums (106; Whirlaway), Teuflesberg (100; Southwest), Great Hunter (101; Robert Lewis), Circular Quay (102; Louisiana Derby), Street Sense (101; Tampa Bay Derby) and Song of Navarone (102; WinStar Derby).

Yet despite winning for the fifth time in six starts, Hard Spun still has much to prove, and a stiff test will come in the April 14 Blue Grass.

The Lane’s End field was far from the toughest Derby prep of the season as those that finished closest to Hard Spun were Sedgefield, whose three most recent starts had come on grass, and the local Turfway product Joe Got Even. Thus, the Blue Grass, expected to attract Street Sense, Any Given Saturday and Great Hunter, will offer a better indication as to where Hard Spun fits in this class.