April, 2023 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Foaling Complications Claim Horse Of The Year Havre De Grace At Age 16

Havre de Grace, the 2011 Horse of the Year and a record-setting broodmare prospect at auction, died Sunday due to complications after foaling, Thoroughbred Daily News reports.

Wayne Sweezey of Timber Town Stable, where the 16-year-old daughter of Saint Liam was boarded, confirmed to the TDN that the mare hemorrhaged multiple times after delivering a colt by Into Mischief on Friday afternoon, and she succumbed in the early hours on Sunday.

Havre de Grace was owned by the Whisper Hill Farm operation of Mandy Pope, who was in attendance for the foaling, and the aftermath.

Havre de Grace won nine of 16 starts during her on-track career, earning $2,586,175 for owner Fox Hill Farm and trainer Larry Jones.

She began to scrape national prominence during her 3-year-old season, when she won the Grade 2 Cotillion Stakes and finished third in the 2010 Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic at Churchill Downs.

Havre de Grace then took center stage at age four, with a campaign that included early-season scores in the G1 Apple Blossom Handicap, and the G3 Azeri Stakes and Obeah Stakes. She then stared down male competition for the first time in the G1 Woodward Stakes at Saratoga Race Course, where she sat a patient trip under jockey Ramon Dominguez and won by 1 1/4 lengths.

The filly's fall campaign an 8 1/4-length drubbing in the G1 Beldame Invitational Stakes in her return to female competition, then she went back into open company for that year's Breeders' Cup Classic at Churchill Downs, where she finished fourth to Drosselmeyer.

At the end of the year, Havre de Grace was honored with the Eclipse Awards for Horse of the Year and champion older female.

Havre de Grace raced one more time at age five, defeating an overmatched field in the listed New Orleans Ladies Classic Stakes at the Fair Grounds before being retired due to injury.

She was then cataloged in the 2012 Fasig-Tipton November Sale, where Pope secured the mare for $10 million, which was a world-record price for a broodmare prospect.

All five of Havre de Grace's foals to race are winners, led by Graceful Princess, a daughter of Tapit who won the Grade 3 Molly Pitcher Stakes in 2021. Prior to her final colt by Into Mischief, Havre de Grace's youngest foal was a 2-year-old Justify colt who is yet to be named.

TDN confirmed that a nurse mare has already been found for Havre de Grace's foal, and that he has accepted her. Havre de Grace will be cremated, and a portion of her ashes will be spread at Timber Town.

Where to Eat/Drink in Louisville During Kentucky Derby Week 2023

In recent years, Louisville has gone from having the reputation as a “hidden gem” on the dining and entertainment scene to being duly recognized as one of the best cities in the U.S. for unique restaurants and bars. And of course, the spotlight shines brightest on Kentucky’s biggest (some would say only) city during Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve week.

Golden Sixty Lands Champions Mile At Sha Tin For Record Third Time

By Declan Schuster

Golden Sixty stands alone as Hong Kong's most prolific Group 1 winner after his record-setting third FWD Champions Mile (G1) triumph at Sha Tin on Sunday.

Equal with Beauty Generation's mark of eight top-level wins before Sunday, Golden Sixty – trained by Francis Lui – added Sunday's success to his wins in 2021 and 2022.

Making it an unmatched nine Group 1s for the Australian-bred 7-year-old by Darley's Central Kentucky-based sire Medaglia d'Oro, jockey Vincent Ho also sealed a fourth Champions Mile win in succession to become the race's leading rider after breaking his deadlock with Brett Prebble.

“Thank you to all of the racing fans and, of course, I am really grateful to be on this horse again,” Ho said of Golden Sixty, who has won 25 of 29 career starts and tallied nine Group 1 victories. “He's such a superstar and I'm just very grateful and very happy for Golden Sixty of course. Now he looks around and enjoys the crowds and his home turf.

“We got a sneak through the inside, one off and sort of in second position. I told myself before this race to try and enjoy every moment with Golden Sixty because he is seven now and we don't know when he is going to retire but it's the best way to enjoy every single step with him.

“I'm nothing without him. All of the credit goes to Golden Sixty,” Ho continued.

Golden Sixty landed his third Group 1 victory this season in a time of 1:33.34 ahead of Beauty Joy and California Spangle, respectively.

“It's always my honor to be on him. I'm happy for the horse and happy for the crowds that come to support him. He's just an amazing horse,” Ho said. “He's going as well as ever. There's no sign of him dropping in performance.”

Stepping away cleanly under Ho, Hong Kong's two-time Horse of the Year (2020/21 & 2021/22) steadily stole ground mid-race and between runners before taking command with roughly 400 meters left to run.

“The only thing I can say is happy. He's such a good horse with a good fighting heart. He gives me confidence,” Lui said. “Vincent had his own plan, I didn't disturb him. Before the race, we didn't talk about how to run because he knows this horse well and I don't have to teach him.”

Speaking of longevity, Lui declared that Golden Sixty's future runs could be spaced even further apart and while a shot at Hong Kong's Triple Crown remains open in next month's G1 Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup (2,400 meters) on 28 May, Lui expects Golden Sixty's next major target to be a third win in December's Longines Hong Kong Mile (G1).

“Now we just keep a little bit longer in between races, before we could keep racing – even some of the Group 3 races – but now we just pick the Group 1 races,” Lui said.

The official margin of victory was 1 1/2 lengths. Golden Sixty was sent off as a dominant favorite.

Of runner-up Beauty Joy's effort, jockey Hugh Bowman said: “Delighted, no surprise to see him do that. He enjoyed that even tempo. It wasn't frantic, it was consistent, which is what he needs.”

California Spangle led the race early before fading to third under jockey Zac Purton: “He ran well, he just got annoyed the whole race. They were at him and he sort of didn't get a chance to switch off.”

Golden Sixty's previous Group 1 wins this season came in the Stewards' Cup (1,600 meters) and Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup (2,000 meters) – the first two legs of Hong Kong's Triple Crown.

Prior to Golden Sixty's Champions Mile three-peat, Ho bagged a first win in the race in 2020 aboard Southern Legend.

Golden Sixty's dam is the unraced Kentucky-bred Distorted Humor mare Gaudeamus.

The post Golden Sixty Lands Champions Mile At Sha Tin For Record Third Time appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Rocket Can Drills for Derby

Frank Fletcher's Rocket Can (Into Mischief) turned in his final work ahead of Saturday's GI Kentucky Derby going five furlongs in :59.80 (4/35) at Churchill Downs Sunday. With regular exercise rider Guelser Cardona aboard and working inside of stablemate Mr. McGregor (Into Mischief), the colt worked in splits of :12.80, :24.40, :36. He galloped out six furlongs in 1:13.

“I thought it went very well,” trainer Bill Mott said of the work. “That's racehorse time for this track. He had a workmate out there, both riders did a good job, and it worked out like we had hoped it would. I thought Rocket Can finished well, and galloped out well. It was a very nice work.”

Rocket Can worked in blinkers Sunday and he'll be wearing them again Saturday.

“Visually, for me, they appear to be helping,” Mott said. “We had worked him before in blinkers and we had thought that they didn't make an extreme amount of difference. But if they help just a little bit, that's what you need.”

Rocket Can, who is out of a Tapit mare, won the Feb. 4 GIII Holy Bull S. and was second behind champion Forte (Violence) in the Mar. 4 GII Fountain of Youth S. He was a closing fourth behind Angel of Empire (Classic Empire) after a wide trip in the nine-furlong GI Arkansas Derby last time out Apr. 1.

“The one thing we all have to prove is if we can get 10 furlongs,” Mott said. “That's always the question in the Derby, there's not that many prep races at that mile-and-a-quarter distance. When they turn for home in the Derby, that really sorts them out. We hope this horse has the stamina to get the 10 furlongs. We think he has it, he has a pedigree that indicates he should get the distance. You never know if they can do it, until they do it.”

The field for both the Kentucky Derby and Friday's GI Kentucky Oaks will be held Monday from 2-3 p.m. in the Aristides Lounge at Churchill Downs.

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