Havre de Grace Bypass the Apple Blossom Stakes
Just when the 2011 Horse of the Year, Havre de Grace, was tuning up for a possible title defense in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Stakes at Oaklawn Park, trainer Larry Jones and owner of the Fox Hill Farms Rick Porter has scratched the 5-year-old Saint Liam
filly from the Apple Blossom Stakes which was set to go underway on 13 April, 2012.
All the talk of unfair weight’s assigned to Havre de Grace last time, and a possible inkling that same would be the case this time around, Rick Porter bypassed the Apple Blossom because of the same reason, saying that the weights are unfair.
The Kentucky bred out of mare Easter Bunnette by Carson City, Havre de Grace is now pointed toward the Grade 2 La Troienne Stakes at about 1 1/16 miles over the Churchill Downs’ dirt course on 4 May, 2012, at the Kentucky Oaks undercard.
After scratching Havre de Grace from the Apple Blossom Stakes, Rick Porter posted on his Fix Hill Farms website the reason for doing it, and in doing so he pointed his guns at the Oaklawn Park secretary Pat Pope.
In the statement Rick Porter asked the secretary the reasoning behind assigning Havre de Grade 123 pounds, and on the other hand assigning the 2011 Kentucky Oaks winner, Plum Pretty with 117 pounds, Absinthe Minded with 114 pounds and Tiz Miz Sue with 115
pounds.
“We have decided one thing though, we will take on any horse and take our defeats when we get them but we won’t let the racing secretaries decide who is going to win the races,” Porter said.
He further went on to say: “The weights are unfair and I have asked all the journalists to demand that Pope explain how he came up with the numbers for the weights. He owes it to the fans that were going to pack the house for the Apple Blossom.
Since he had to do it, he should make it public so we can see his thinking and reasoning. I hope he takes on his responsibility.”
It’s a disappointing for the racing fans at the Oaklawn Park, that they will miss the 2011 Horse of the Year take on some serious talent.
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