Filly Havre de Grace works before Breeders' Cup
October 24, 2011LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) - Havre de Grace worked out at Keeneland on Monday in preparation for the Breeders' Cup Classic at Churchill Downs, with jockey Gabriel Saez guiding the 4-year-old filly over five furlongs in 58:60 seconds.
Havre de Grace is expected to run against the boys on Nov. 5 in a bid to become the second female to win the Classic, following Zenyatta in 2009. However, owner Rick Porter of Fox Hill Farm has said she will be cross-entered in the Ladies' Classic.
``It was good, what we needed,'' trainer Larry Jones said. ``We're ready; I would have liked to have run last Saturday. She couldn't get any better.''
The filly ran the first three-eighths of a mile in 35 seconds and the half in 47, finishing the last eighth on the Polytrack in 11.60.
``I barely asked her the last eighth of a mile to pick it up a little bit,'' Saez said. ``I was happy with her, she did it easy. She worked very good and her next work at Churchill will be even better.''
Havre de Grace is scheduled to be shipped to Louisville on Saturday, and will turn in her final pre-Breeders' Cup work at Churchill next Monday, weather permitting.
The filly beat males in the Woodward Stakes at Saratoga in September and romped past a field of females in the Beldame Stakes at Belmont this month.
Her other wins this year include the Azeri, Apple Blossom, and Obeah Stakes, with her only loss being a runner-up finish to Blind Luck by a nose in the Delaware Handicap in July.