Endsley Oaks Farm

Owner: Bob and Jill Jones | Residence: Brooksville, FL

Farm Location: Brooksville, FL | Tampa Trainers: Kathleen O’Connell, Aldana Spieth

Located about 50 miles north of the Oldsmar oval, Endsley Oaks Farm enjoyed a dream season, posting 24 victories to capture the Tampa Bay Downs Owners title. Bob and Jill Jones, who have raced at Tampa Bay Downs for about 13 years, own about 90 horses spread between the racetrack, an 80acre broodmare farm and a nearby 150-acre training facility. They also raise about 500 cattle on their 1,200-acre property. They are well known in Brooksville, where Bob owns Composite Motors, Inc., an electronics manufacturing company, and Jill is a corporate and patent attorney. Endsley Oaks stands homebred sire Pharaoh Bob, an 11-year-old son of Pioneerof the Nile who raced under their colors. Hailing from Massachusetts, the Joneses share a passion for horses and racing that grew through their friendship with Ocala residents Kim and Bonnie Heath III, whose namesake raised and campaigned 1956 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Needles. Besides raising their own horses, the Joneses have been active at both the Ocala and Kentucky sales. Horses at Endsley Oaks are kept fit with a Eurociser, an equine swimming pool and gallops on the farm’s 3/8-mile track and mile-and-a-quarter, European-style dirt gallop. Among Endsley Oaks’s top horses are homebreds No Mercy Percy, a mare who earned more than $120,000; homebred gelding Betting On Red; Florida-bred mare Take to the Skies; homebred gelding Jack Rabbit Quick; and Florida-bred mare Luna Queen. In past summers, the Joneses have raced at Gulfstream Park, Colonial Downs, Presque Isle Downs, Monmouth Park, Prairie Meadows and Louisiana Downs. The stable’s trainers at Tampa Bay Downs are Kathleen O’Connell, a two-time track champion, and Aldana Spieth, the wife of veteran jockey Scott Spieth. The Joneses plan to take time away from their Thoroughbred ventures to travel to Antarctica in January, completing their journey to all seven continents.