Havre de Grace retired after an amazing career
"It is with great disappointment that I have to announce that Havre de Grace has been retired.” These were the words posted by Owner Rick Porter on the Fox Hill Farm website after Havre de Grace turned in her work at Churchill Downs on 22 April, 2012.
According to Porter, some heat was detected in the Saint Liam mare’s right front ankle, and right after that she was sent to the Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, where Dr. Larry Bramlage, and after the checkup, Porter said that they didn’t get any positive prognosis for continuing her racing career.
"Owning Grace through her racing career has been the highlight of my time in horse racing. She was a wonderful, wonderful racehorse, and I feel confident she'll be an equally wonderful broodmare. Thanks, Grace, for all you gave us, and here's to a long and enjoyable retirement."
Dr. Larry Bramlage after checking Havre de Grace thoroughly said that she had incurred a ligament injury, and that she isn’t fit for racing, but he also said that she could start a new career as a broodmare.
Bramlage recommended stall and hand walking, he further went on to say that if the owner’s like, she is ready for breeding.
"This is just one of many ligaments that support the fetlock by attaching to the base of the sesamoid," Bramlage said in the report. "Unfortunately, with one injured the remaining ligaments become progressively more vulnerable, and they would sequentially become injured if we trained on.”
The Larry Jones trained filly, will always be remembered for her heated rivalry with another fantastic mare, Blind Luck, who also succumbed to an injury and retired last year.
Blind Luck did get the best of Havre de Grace, as she went on to win four times out of their six encounters, but all of them were close ones, which instilled excitement and passion in the fans to ask for more.
In her last race of the 2011 season, Havre de Grace finished fourth in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic, and prior to that she had won five races in seven altogether with a lone second place finish to Blind Luck in the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap.
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