HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Trainer Larry Jones will become a private trainer for his partners and himself starting in July in a move that will end a 40-year run as a public trainer during which he won Grade 1 races from New York to Southern California.   Jones, who is 65, said he wants to cut back on his travel and will base year round in Kentucky. He and his wife, Cindy, have a home in Henderson, Ky. Jones, who has four grandchildren, is currently based at Oaklawn Park.   “I’ll be training only for my partners and myself after the Churchill Downs meet,” Jones said Tuesday. “It’s time to stay closer to home and enjoy sleeping in my bed. Living out of a suitcase gets old.  “My owners have been good to me. They do understand.”   Jones came into racing as an owner, in 1980. He began training in 1982, starting out with Quarter Horses. His first win with Thoroughbreds came in 1983 at Ellis Park. Jones has gone on to be a force in major stakes for the better part of the last two decades, winning 181 such races – with 69 of them graded.  “I’ve been very blessed with the stock I’ve had,” he said.    :: Want the best bonus in racing? Get a $250 deposit match, $10 free bet, and free Formulator with DRF Bets. Code: WINNING Jones hit a high point in 2011, when Havre de Grace was named Horse of the Year for longtime client Rick Porter, who died in 2021. Jones also won the Kentucky Oaks three times, with champion Proud Spell in 2008, Believe You Can in 2012, and Lovely Maria in 2015. Joyful Victory captured the Grade 1 Santa Margarita at Santa Anita in 2013 – about a decade after Island Sand gave Jones his first Grade 1 win in the 2004 Acorn at Belmont Park.   Jones said he currently has eight horses in training and will have five 2-year-olds joining his operation at Churchill. He said he and his wife have five broodmares, one of which is a full sister to multiple Grade 1 winner Street Band.   “Most of our horses are Kentucky-breds, and Kentucky purses are really good,” Jones said. “So, we’re pretty much going to base it all out of Kentucky.  "I do own a Minnesota-bred that I’m going to send with [trainer] Robert Cline to Canterbury. So, we know enough people in this game if we need a horse at a certain track.”   Jones, who has a farming background, said he did enjoy the extensive travel that can come through racing horses around the country.   “The racing game has been good to me,” he said. “I got to go to a lot of places I never dreamed possible. I mean, who would have ever thought people in L.A. or New York City would know who I am? It’s been a good run.”  And now, it’s time to stay close to home.