Jeanne Jones Wins Santa Ysabel Stakes

Jeanne Jones, running with cotton in her ears for the first time, took the lead in the upper stretch and held on to beat Pattern Step by 1 lengths in the $81,850 Santa Ysabel Stakes Wednesday before a crowd of 18,355 at Santa Anita.

Jeanne Jones, the 13-10 favorite ridden by Bill Shoemaker and carrying 114 pounds, covered 1 1/16 miles in 1:43 3/5 and paid $4.60, $3.40 and $3.

The victory was the second in six outings for Jeanne Jones and was worth $48,100, raising the filly’s career earnings to $376,065.

Jeanne Jones finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies race last November and third in the Hollywood Starlet in December.

In the Breeders’ Cup and a recent allowance race, she appeared to be distracted by the crowd and lost a big lead late in those races. Thus, trainer Charlie Whittingham decided to try the cotton in her ears.