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Havre de Grace wins Horse of the Year

Posted: Monday, January 16, 2012 10:47 PM

HAVRE DE GRACE WINS HORSE OF THE YEAR

Adam Coglianese/NYRA photo

by Joe Nevills

In the weeks leading up to the Eclipse Awards voting, opinions on who should be named Horse of the Year were splintered into several different camps – from horses with great, if slightly lacking, campaigns such as Havre de Grace and Acclamation, to the standbys who danced every dance, such as Game On Dude and Flat Out, to a record-setter in the starter allowance ranks in Rapid Redux.

In the end, the voters came back to the horse with the most solid résumé and named Havre de Grace the third straight female to win Horse of the Year, following Rachel Alexandra in 2009 and Zenyatta in 2010.

The recently turned five-year-old Saint Liam mare earned 166 of the 244 first-place votes for Horse of the Year honors, as voted on by members of the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, and the Daily Racing Form, beating out finalists Acclamation and Cape Blanco (Ire).

Havre de Grace had an unquestionably great year, winning five of seven races in 2011 for earnings of $1,623,000.

Havre de Grace defeated open competition in the Woodward Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course, asserted her dominance in the older female division with an 8 ¼-length victory in the Beldame Invitational Stakes (G1), and bested familiar rival Blind Luck in the Azeri Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn Park. She also found the winner’s circle in the Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) at Oaklawn and the Obeah Stakes (G3) at Delaware Park.

In defeat, Havre de Grace finished second by a nose to Blind Luck in the Delaware Handicap (G2) and turned in a respectable fourth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) at Churchill Downs.

Havre de Grace’s campaign also secured champion older female honors, with all but three of the 248 first place votes.

Havre de Grace is owned by Rick Porter’s Fox Hill Farms and trained by Larry Jones. She was bred in Kentucky by Nancy Dillman.

“It's some kind of thrill to win this award that I only dreamed of maybe 10, 15 years ago. As many of you know, I've seen the lowest of lows in horse racing and I've seen a lot of highs,” said Porter, who campaigned ill-fated 2008 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) runner-up Eight Belles. “But nothing rivals Havre de Grace, she's the most deserving horse. she has the most memorable campaign and accounted for the most excitement at the top level of the sport throughout the entire year. She did it her way. She wan the big races when it counted.”

For all winners of the 2011 Eclipse Awards, click here.

Joe Nevills is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer