Fair Grounds: Havre de Grace Getting Sharper

Currently Havre De Grace is at Fairgrounds instead of at Oaklawn where the filly prepped for her HOY campaign last year, the question that is intriguing is why. Why would Larry Jones stray away from what he previously stated was the best place to train a horse to go down to a Fairgrounds race course that has not produced a legitimate triple crown contender or eclipse award winning horse in many years. Jones was even quoted as saying that "Last year" his star filly Havre De Grace "had some issues we had to take care of, plus we have a better track to train on", referring to the Fairgrounds oval where they are stabled at this year. It will be interesting to see if he is able to develop his horses into contenders coming out of that area. More importantly, will these connections at any point be honest with the fans and the public about the ongoing fued with Pat Pope the racing secretary at Oaklawn and Delaware Park where HDG and Blind Luck hooked up in an epic stretch duel to see BL prevail by a nose while receiving a 2 lb weight allowance from HDG. It has been rumored that there was a dispute and some harsh words after the race towards the racing secretary Pat Pope and the connections stated that they would not run at Oaklawn and Jones stated that he would not stable or start "ANY" of his horses at Oaklawn this year. This would mean the skipping of the G3 Azeri to run in the ungraded N.O Ladies and skipping the G1 Apple Blossom to run in the G2 New Orleans Handicap. Interesting situation has developed here, stay tuned for an update. Right or Wrong it looks as if FHF and or Larry Jones horses wont be seen at Oaklawn.