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Havre de Grace injured, retired
"In a lesser horse we would rehabilitate, probably using stem cell therapy, but it takes a year to fully resolve, and it usually reduces a horse's quality. In her instance this is not acceptable, and so we should probably stop her race career. "She needs 60 days of stall rest and hand walking before turning out. She needs no special therapy if we are not going to train again as the remaining ligaments are intact because this was identified so early in the course of the problem. She will be fine as a broodmare." A daughter of 2005 Horse of the Year Saint Liam, Havre de Grace was prepping for the Grade 2 La Troienne on May 4 at the time of her retirement. Havre de Grace began her career with trainer Tony Dutrow and raced twice as a juvenile at Delaware Park, finishing third in her debut and then winning a maiden special weight at one mile and 70 yards. Both races were originally scheduled for the turf. Havre de Grace ran second by narrow margins in her first three outings as a sophomore in 2010, including a neck loss in the Go for Wand at Delaware and a nose defeat to Blind Luck in the Grade 2 Delaware Oaks. Havre de Grace and Blind Luck would meet five more times in what would become one of the closest and intense rivalries in modern times. Their next meeting, in the Grade 1 Alabama, also came down to the wire as Blind Luck prevailed by a neck. However, the tables were turned in the Grade 2 Cotillion at Philadelphia Park, where Havre de Grace held off Blind Luck by a neck while in receipt of 10 pounds. Neither filly was able to beat the older Unrivaled Belle in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic at Churchill Downs. Blind Luck finished second, one length of Havre de Grace, and was awarded champion three-year-old filly honors. Transferred to trainer Larry Jones for a four-year-old campaign, Havre de Grace got off to a fast start by winning the Grade 3 Azeri at Oaklawn Park by 3 1/4 lengths over Blind Luck. Both fillies carried equal weights. Victories by Havre de Grace in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap and Grade 3 Obeah followed. The final showdown between the two fillies was a classic. In the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap last July, Havre de Grace and Blind Luck battled down the long stretch in what many observers judged the race of the year. At the wire it was Blind Luck gaining the nod by a nose while in receipt of two pounds. The two would not meet again after Blind Luck was retired shortly before the Breeders' Cup.
Havre de Grace kicked off her five-year-old campaign with a facile 4 1/2-length score in the New Orleans Ladies at Fair Grounds on March 17. It would prove to be her last race as a repeat attempt in the April 13 Apple Blossom was vetoed after Porter and Jones publicly disapproved of the weight Havre de Grace would have been required to give her rivals. Bred in Kentucky by Nancy S. Dillman, Havre de Grace retires with a mark of 16-9-4-2, $2,586,175. She was produced by the Carson City mare Easter Bunnette and hails from the family of multiple Grade 1 winner Riskaverse. Havre de Grace's third dam was Broodmare of the Year Toll Booth. "Owning Grace through her racing career has been the highlight of my time in horse racing," Porter said. "She was a wonderful, wonderful racehorse, and I feel confident she'll be an equally wonderful broodmare."
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