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Believe You Can posts head score in Fair Grounds Oaks
"That was probably the most uncomfortable pace set-up scenario that I could have thought of and it was definitely a very hard first half of a race for the filly," Napravnik said. "It just shows how much talent and how much class she's got. I wish I could have gotten her a better trip but she pulled through for us and she's a race horse. "I had some horse left when I turned for home but I knew the other filly, Summer Applause, was coming at us so I didn't look back, I just kept riding to the wire. The filly deserves all the credit because she overcame a lot." It was another nine lengths back to Disposablepleasure, who was followed under the wire by Small Kitchen and Colonial Empress. "We just didn't get to her. She was better today. But we're still good and we can go on," said jockey Robby Albarado, who was aboard Summer Applause. "That one filly spurted out away from us. I just couldn't match strides from the quarter-pole to the eighth-pole but finally, as persistent as my filly was, she kept coming and coming and nearly got there." "Of course we are disappointed. We wanted a win, but this shows progress," trainer Bret Calhoun said in regards to Summer Applause. "Robby said he didn't want to move too soon. In a way, small fields like this hurt her chances. She ran good, we just got beat today." Inny Minnie was scratched earlier in the day by her trainer, Steve Margolis. "She was a little off her feed yesterday and just seemed dull to me so I didn't want to take any chances," Margolis explained. "She might be coming down with something and it just hasn't hit her yet. She's just not right. There's plenty of races but we'll have to get her to Kentucky and then we'll see."
"That's her next start," Jones confirmed. "We will not try to put anything between here and there. That's why I'm so glad Fair Grounds moved all the races to this last weekend. It makes it fit, it makes it doable. We sure have no reason to think we're not going to the Kentucky Oaks right now. "We'll go to Keeneland and give her a couple of easy weeks on the Polytrack and then she'll go to Churchill when they start working. We probably won't be breezing over the synthetic but we'll have a couple weeks of just changing the legs and just let muscles relax that have been used and use some different ones and then go over." Believe You Can will face Summer Applause for a fourth straight time in the Kentucky Oaks. "I was disappointed we didn't win but I think she still ran a good race," Calhoun said. "Now all we have to do is ship to Churchill and run back almost in five weeks right out of our own stall up there. Right now it's OK; I think if she had to start moving around a lot it could take a toll on her. I think you watch some of the races from around the country today...I didn't lose any confidence in my filly today moving forward. We definitely wanted to win this one but obviously the next one's even a little more important. " The Kentucky-bred Believe You Can is out of the unraced El Prado mare El Fasto and stayed with her breeder after failing to meet her reserve when only attracting a $70,000 bid as a Keeneland September yearling. El Fasto is a half-sister to Grade 2 heroine Classic Elegance, and this family has also produced Grade 2 victor Rush Bay as well as Grade 3 winners Chorwon and Basket Weave.
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