Grade 1 heroine
“We had a very uneventful trip,” trainer Larry Jones said. “It was
Jones, who personally drove the four-year-old filly to the Spa from
“We had to alter her training this week due to dear old Irene,” said
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“She did have a little blowout (on Tuesday), galloped out well and seems very
good this morning. We’re going to hope it’s the way we should have been training
her.”
Havre de Grace’s only loss thus far this year came by a nose to Blind Luck
(Pollard’s Vision) in the Delaware H. (G2) on July 16. Her other three starts
this season resulted in victories in the Apple Blossom H. (G1) and Azeri S. (G3)
at Oaklawn Park as well as the Obeah S. (G3) at Delaware.
No worse than third in 12 lifetime starts, Havre de Grace seeks to become
just the second filly to win the Woodward, following in the hoofsteps of Rachel
Alexandra, who captured the 2009 renewal of the race as a three-year-old en
route to a Horse of the Year title. It was with an eye on Horse of the Year
honors that owner Rick Porter decided to send Havre de Grace to the Woodward.
“Obviously, we think we have a chance to be Horse of the Year,” Porter said.
“And after we got beat a nose in the Del ‘Cap, we thought we had to do something
aggressive, either run against Blind Luck again in the Personal Ensign ([G1] or)
take the boys on. We had to do something to get everybody’s attention,
hopefully.”
Jones also commented on the Horse of the Year angle.
“We’re trying to do something to move her closer to a championship,” the
trainer said. “If she does beat the boys, it puts us back in front of the pack
(among older fillies and mares) and into the hunt for Horse of the Year. But we
have a lot to do before the end of the year.”
Havre de Grace, who will leave from post position 6 under Ramon Dominguez,
has been installed as the 8-5 morning-line favorite in the Woodward, in which
she will face seven older males as she receives a three-pound weight concession.
“If you’re a numbers player, you would think she ranks right up there and is
a deserving favorite,” Jones said. “The 1 1/8 miles is a really good distance
for her; 1 1/4 miles stretches her a little bit. She does it, but she starts
getting a little tired at the end. She gets 1 1/8 miles really well. What I
don’t like is that Saratoga is known for being the graveyard of favorites.”
On Thursday morning, Havre de Grace had an easy jog around Saratoga’s main
track with Jones in the irons. Click here for the
video.
“She was nice and loose today,” Jones said. “She looked like she enjoyed her
little stroll around. This will start her into her transition of being here.”
Jones believes that Havre de Grace will improve off her near-miss in the
Delaware ‘Cap.
“The Obeah was supposed to be a prep for the Delaware ‘Cap, but she didn’t
get a lot out of the Obeah,” Jones noted. “Looking at the Delaware ‘Cap, you
would have thought it took a lot out of both of them, but a week after the race
Havre de Grace acted like, ‘OK, that was my prep, now let’s do something.’
“In a long way around the bucket to get to the dipper, it seems like she’s
better (now) than going into the Delaware H.
“The thing that worries me so much is that most of the horses have had a race
over the track and that’s always an advantage,” Jones added. “Plus she’s off for
seven weeks from her last race, and we’ve had to alter our training deal because
of Irene; we didn’t do it exactly the way we wanted to.
“If she overcomes it all, she’s really good. To overcome all that and my
training, she’s gotta be a good one.”