Havre de Grace
photo by Adam Coglianese

Havre de Grace put herself squarely in the race for Horse of the Year honors on Saturday afternoon at Saratoga Race Course, powering into the lead with 200 yards to go and pulling clear to a rousing 1 ¼-length victory over seven males in the 58th running of the Grade 1, $750,000 Woodward.

The 4-year-old daughter of Saint Liam became just the second female ever to win the 1 1/8-mile race, joining Rachel Alexandra, who capped her 2009 Horse of the Year campaign with a win in the Woodward.

Sent off as the 2-1 favorite and confidently ridden by Ramon Dominguez, Havre de Grace left from post position 6, then raced wide around the first turn as Rule, closely followed by Mission Impazible, carried the field through an opening quarter-mile in 23.93 seconds. Angled toward the inside as the half went in 48.09, Havre de Grace began inching closer approaching the far turn and launched her bid with three-eighths of a mile to go.

Just two lengths back in second at the top of the stretch, Havre de Grace steadily cut into Rule’s margin, taking over inside the eighth pole with enough left to turn back the late bid from Flat Out.

Her winning time was 1:49.18.

“I felt pretty good at the three-eighths pole when we were coming and I wasn’t seeing anyone making a huge move,” said Larry Jones, who trains Havre de Grace for Rick Porter’s Fox Hill Farm. “I kept telling myself with Flat Out picking up nine pounds from his last race, it had to start telling on him somewhere. About the sixteenth pole he started leveling off and stopped chasing us. We felt pretty good it was going our way.”

The victory, Havre de Grace’s fourth in five starts this year, likely put her back atop the older filly and mare division and firmly in the race for Horse of the Year honors. Her only loss of 2011 came in the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap on July 16, when she was nosed out by arch rival Blind Luck at the wire while conceding two pounds.

“I definitely think we’re in the picture,” said Jones. “I think we were in the picture before, maybe a low-profile picture, but I think this puts us up there with everyone else. We have to continue on. It’s not over today, by any means. We said to ourselves, we were going to put her in a position to earn a championship if she was good enough. By coming here today we gave her the opportunity to move closer to a championship. I think she did it.”

With a career record of 7-4-2 from 13 starts, Havre de Grace earned $450,000 and now has bankrolled $1,986,175. As the slight favorite, she returned $6.50 to her many backers in the crowd of 24,430, who cheered and applauded as she was led into the winner’s circle.

“Of course, we automatically know 50 percent of the crowd is going to like her because she’s a girl against the boys,” said Jones with a laugh. “Like I kept trying to tell her, I’ve never seen what men could do well that there isn’t some girl out there that thought they could do it just a little bit better. Like I kept trying to tell her, ‘You could be that girl.’”

Flat Out, the second choice, was 1 ½ lengths clear of Rule, who was followed by Mission Impazible, Giant Oak, Ice Box, Mambo Meister, and Convocation.

“He was still trying,” said Charles “Scooter” Dickey, trainer of the runner-up. “That was a good [filly]. She beat us. We’re going forward. He was kicking in; I was hoping he’d run. I thought she was the horse to beat all along.” 

Jones and Porter said the likely next spot for Havre de Grace was the Grade 1, $350,000 Beldame at 1 1/8 miles against fillies and mares at Belmont Park on October 1, followed by a start in either the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic or the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs in November.

“Our next race will be against the girls because we don’t want to knock her out before the Breeders’ Cup,” said Jones. “And then, who knows? Believe me, we’re considering both [the Ladies’ Classic and the Classic].”