Havre de Grace eyes Horse of Year

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (AP) - With an eye toward a late-season run at a Horse of the Year title, the owner and trainer of Havre de Grace have chosen to face males in the $750,000 Woodward Stakes Saturday at Saratoga Race Course.

The New York Racing Association odds maker agrees with owner Rick Porter and trainer Larry Jones and installed Havre de Grace as the 8-5 morning-line favorite in a field of eight.

``(Jones) and I had been talking about what we were going to do after the Delaware Handicap,'' Porter said. ``We were looking at our numbers, we were improving and even though we got beat in Delaware, we thought it was time to take on the boys.''

The decision to target the Woodward, Porter said, came after the connections of Blind Luck - the nation's leading older female , just ahead of Havre de Grace - considered running in the Personal Ensign Invitational, then opted to remain on the West Coast. Blind Luck eventually passed on the Pacific Classic.

The Personal Ensign, originally scheduled for Sunday but postponed because of Tropical Storm Irene, will also be run on Saturday.

``We only had time for two races before the Breeders' Cup. We really didn't want to run in the Personal Ensign unless Blind Luck had come, then we would have gone there,'' Porter said. ``But when we saw that she wasn't coming we thought it was time. She's doing well; we'll take the boys on.''

Havre de Grace's narrow loss to Blind Luck at Delaware Park was her first in four races this year. Though she has won half of her 12 career starts, more than $1.5 million and has never finished worse than third, Porter's 4-year-old filly was beaten by her longtime rival in her only Saratoga appearance, losing the 2010 Alabama Stakes to Blind Luck by a neck.

Flat Out, Havre de Grace's principal adversary in the 1 1/8-mile Woodward, won the July 2 Suburban Handicap at Belmont Park and was runner-up to Metropolitan Handicap winner Tizway, the nation's leading older male, in the Aug. 6 Whitney Invitational at Saratoga.

Porter said the historic Woodward victory two years ago by Rachel Alexandra, who then was voted Horse of the Year at age 3 after she defeated older males in the race, had no influence on the decision.

``Obviously we think we have a chance to be Horse of the Year and after we got beat by a nose a in the Delaware Handicap, we thought that we had to do something aggressive. Either run against Blind Luck again in the Personal Ensign and, if not, take the boys on.''

The Woodward field in post-position order: Ice Box (12-1, Jose Lezcano); Mission Impazible (10-1, John Velazquez); Giant Oak (8-1, Shaun Bridgmohan); Rule (5-1, Javier Castellano); Convocation (20-1, Rajiv Maragh); Havre de Grace (8-5, Ramon Dominguez); Flat Out (5-2, Alex Solis); Mambo Meister(10-1, Fernando Jara).