Fair Grounds: Jones keeping Believe You Can, Joyful Victory separated until Breeders' Cup

NEW ORLEANS – Divide and conquer. That’s the strategy outlined this week by trainer Larry Jones with his talented older females Believe You Can and Joyful Victory, who Jones hopes can remain apart and knock off multiple graded stakes before heading to the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic this fall at Santa Anita.

Joyful Victory was the most recent to race, capturing the Santa Margarita at Santa Anita earlier this month for her first Grade 1 victory. Jones initially was inclined to give her a brief vacation but said this week at Fair Grounds that she would be heading to New York and Belmont Park for the Grade 1, $400,000 Ogden Phipps at 1 1/16 miles May 27, the day of two other Grade 1 races, the Met Mile and Acorn.

“I want to keep her and Believe You Can apart, and I’m going to run Believe You Can in the La Troienne,” Jones said, referring to a Grade 2, $300,000 race going 1 1/16 miles May 3. The La Troienne is part of the Kentucky Oaks undercard at Churchill Downs. Believe You Can won last year’s Kentucky Oaks.

“It makes sense to run her at Churchill Downs,” Jones said. “After that, I can see alternating them in Grade 1 races in New York. I’m going to be going up to New York a lot.”

The major New York race of the summer for older females is the Grade 1, $600,000 Personal Ensign at Saratoga on Aug. 25. The prep for that at Saratoga is the Grade 3, $200,000 Shuvee on July 20.

“I want to give them both the opportunity to get to the Breeders’ Cup, and to be fresh for the Breeders’ Cup,” Jones said.

Jones already has shipped a number of his horses to Churchill Downs, and the rest will follow after Fair Grounds closes Sunday.

◗ Jockey John Jacinto, taken to the hospital following an accident here Thursday, took off his mounts Friday but was hoping to ride Saturday, track officials said. He was sore but didn’t sustain any other injuries in the accident, which occurred when his mount Whodatrunner suffered catastrophic injuries in the sixth race that necessitated her being euthanized.

◗ Trainer Tom Amoss said Delaunay will make his next start in either the Grade 3, $250,000 Count Fleet at Oaklawn going six furlongs April 13 or the Grade 2, $400,000 Churchill Downs Handicap at seven furlongs May 4.

◗ Trainer Jonas Gibson, whose relatively small barn has hit with better than 20 percent of its runners this meet, is heading next to Louisiana Downs, where he will have 25 head. That meet opens May 3.