GRAND PRAIRIE – Jonesboro, a striking, venerable horse named after the Arkansas hometown of his owner, won't be the favorite in the 13th running of the Grade 3 Lone Star Park Handicap.

In fact, history is working against him in Monday's 1 1/16-mile race that highlights Lone Star Park's biggest racing day of the year.

Jonesboro won the Texas Mile last month at Lone Star, and only once has that race's winner gone on to victory in the Lone Star Park Handicap, which carries a purse of $400,000 this year.

It's probably a good thing that horses don't know when the odds are stacked against them. Otherwise, Jonesboro would never have made it this far. After he won a $75,000 stakes race at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas as a 3-year-old in April 2005, a fracture was found in the cannon bone in Jonesboro's right front leg.

"It was almost career-ending," trainer Randy Morse said. "They took him and put screws in it, and then he had almost a year off.

"Since that point, he's been good. He was really lucky to make it back to the races, especially to come back and make a million dollars."

Indeed, Jonesboro topped the million mark last month with his win in the Texas Mile, in which he ran down King Dan in deep stretch. King Dan also is in today's feature.

Morse and owner Michael Langford are hoping for Mother Nature to cooperate today. Jonesboro has proved to be a terrific runner on the dirt. But when it turns to slop? Not so much.

If significant rain falls before post time, Morse will have to make a determination on whether to run Jonesboro, another potential hurdle in his hope of sweeping the Texas Mile and the LSP Handicap, done previously only by Dixie Dot Com in 2001.

At 7 years old, Jonesboro has been an overachiever since his troubled early years, which included more than just the serious injury.

"Before I ever started him as a 2-year-old, he was showing a lot of talent, but he wasn't focused on what he was doing," Morse said. "He was just like a big, ol' dumb kid. It took him three or four races before he figured out what he was doing."

That talent will be put to the test today by It's a Bird, the early even-money favorite. It's a Bird is coming off a 6-length romp in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap on April 4.

Jonesboro finished third in that race, a neck out of second.

Feeling hot, hot, Hotlantic: The Handicap is the highlight of the Lone Star Million race card. There are three $100,000 races and two others for $200,000, including the 11th running of the Grade 3 Ouija Board Distaff, to be run on the turf at one mile.

Hotlantic, trained by Dallas Keen, is the 4-1 third choice in the morning line behind Flibberjibit and Sweeter Still in what figures to be a highly competitive race.

"She's training awesome," said Keen, who also trains King Dan in the LSP Handicap. "We prefer to stay on the grass if possible. But she handles the off-tracks fairly well, too."

Hotlantic held strong down the stretch to win the Irving Distaff a month ago at 20-1 odds.

"I wouldn't think they'd take her for granted like they did in that race," Keen said. "She's gotten better every time we've run her."

What: Eleven races, six of which are worth a combined $1.1 million

Where: Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie (exit Belt Line off I-30)

When: Gates open at 11:30 a.m. First post is 1:35 p.m. The Lone Star Handicap is 5:47 p.m.

Information: Call 972-263-PONY or visit www.lonestarpark.com