Brereton C. Jones' homebred 2012 Kentucky Oaks (gr. I) winner Believe You Can has been retired, trainer Larry Jones confirmed Nov. 22.
Jones said that the filly will rest at Jones' Airdrie Stud near Midway, Ky., and will undergo a medical check-up. On Nov. 21, she was declared out of the $150,000-added Falls City Handicap (gr. II) to be run at Churchill Downs on Thanksgiving Day.
Jones had been enthusiastic about Believe You Can's planned return to racing in the Falls City following a five-furlong work in 1:00 4/5 at Churchill last Saturday. Believe You Can last competed in the May 27 Ogden Phipps Handicap (gr. I) at Belmont Park, where she ran sixth to Tiz Miz Sue. She has a career record of 14-8-0-2 and has earned $1,280,324.
Jones felt good about Believe You Can's progress until Nov. 19, when he was in the saddle when the 4-year-old Proud Citizen filly returned to the track for a gallop.
"She galloped out a mile (in the work) and I was very pleased with it," Jones said. "The next day she ate and did everything right, but she was knocked out. She wouldn't hang her head out of the stall, but it was okay—there was no heat or anything. Then the next day I galloped her and she galloped okay, but boy, when horses would come by her she had nothing. She wouldn't even try to go with them and that's not her.
"Then when she did that a second day in a row, I told (Brereton Jones) that she's not going to be ready to run Thursday."
Jones is awaiting results of the tests performed on Believe You Can, which he hopes will explain her lack of enthusiasm in her training.
"They're going to do some blood work," he said. "She's perfectly sound. Maybe she was getting sick. It's just one of those deals—you know that she was not going to be racing in 10 days. Hopefully, she's just got a little bug."
In addition to upsetting the Kentucky Oaks at odds of 13-1, Believe You Can won the 2011 Tempted Stakes (gr. III) at Belmont, and in 2012 took the Silverbulletday Stakes at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, along with the Fair Grounds Oaks (gr. II). She also won the Tiffany Lass Stakes and the New Orleans Ladies Stakes at the beginning of 2013. She was bred in Kentucky out of the El Prado mare El Fasto.