Fox Hill Farm’s Havre de Grace tuned up for the
Breeders’ Cup Classic with an easy 5f workout in 1:02 under jockey
Gabriel Saez Monday. The clockers caught her in splits of 12 2/5, 24
3/5, 36 4/5, 49 1/5 and 1:02 before galloping out six furlongs in 1:15
3/5.
“It was very similar to the work before the Beldame that we had at
Delaware Park,” trainer Larry Jones said. “(Jockey Gabriel Saez)
thought the effort she put forth was about the same thing. It was
probably one of the slower works we’ve had coming into Churchill Downs.
“Everybody criticized Hard Spun for his 57 (before the 2007 Kentucky
Derby) so we didn’t do that today. She had a real good work at
Keeneland. We’re not worried about fitness so much as we’re worried
about handling the track. Watching the helmet cam with Gabe you could
tell every time he called on her a little bit she gave him something.
“Everything was good. It probably wasn’t as fast as all these other
horses have been working. That was a concern when we first saw the time,
but it looks like, watching her now and what little water she drank,
it’s more like a gallop than a work.”
“She never has (been a great work horse),” Jones continued. “She’s
become a better work horse and maybe I should have thrown a target at
her.
“At Keeneland I gave her a little something to run at but we made a
point to be the first one around the track today. If we really needed to
tighten her down, I would have sent something out there. I wanted to
kind of see how she got over the track. She doesn’t do anymore than you
ask her, so we’re okay.”