Havre de Grace will kick start her 2012 campaign at Fair Grounds race course with a run in the New Orleans Ladies Stakes
The newly turned 5-year-old mare, Havre de Grace, is expected to kick off her 2012 campaign with a run in the New Orleans Ladies Stakes at Fair Grounds race course on 17 March, 2012, over a distance of 1 1/16 miles on dirt, a race that is exclusive for 4-year-old and above females.
The Rick Porter and Fox Hill Farms owned mare, Havre de Grace, is the leading candidate to be named Horse of the Year in light of her brilliant 2011 season.
She is also the finalist for the 2011 Eclipse Award as the top older female.
J. Larry Jones trained Havre de Grace arrived at Fair Grounds race course on 5 January, 2012, as she reached her destination after an overnight van ride from Vinery Farm near Ocala, Fla.
The Kentucky bred mare will settle at New Orleans track, and according to trainer Larry Jones, it won’t take long to get her ready.
“She’s just sleeping right now,” trainer Larry Jones said. “We haven’t even had her out walking. We just walked her right to her stall and let her sleep. She looks good.”
The daughter of Saint Liam, out of mare Easter Bunnette by Carson City, Havre de Grace is coming off a 4th place finish to Drosselmeyer in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic, over a distance of 1 ¼ miles at Churchill Downs on 5 November, 2011, under jockey Ramon Dominguez.
By Havre de Grace’s standards, it was the worst result of her entire 2011 campaign, where out of seven starts she has gone to land five races, and finished second once, when she got nosed out by arch-rival, Blind Luck, in the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap.
Trainer Larry Jones has confirmed that Havre de Grace will take on the $100,000 New Orleans Field, but he has no clue as to when the three time grade 1 winner will have her first official breeze.
“They’ve been doing a little something with her,” Jones said, referring to the staff at Vinery. “They jogged her for a couple weeks and then they loped her for a week, and I think they’ve been Aqua-Treding her as well. It probably won’t take long to get her ready.”
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