Fair Grounds: Havre de Grace decision pending weight assignment

Trainer Larry Jones remained adamant that a decision on whether Havre de Grace will make her next start in the Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn won’t be reached until the weights for the April 13 race are released on April 7.

Havre de Grace, Jones said, came out of her 4 1/2-length win in the New Orleans Ladies on Saturday at Fair Grounds in fine physical condition, and was scheduled to return to regular training Wednesday.

“She put in a pretty dazzling performance,” Jones said. “She just kind of looked like she was galloping out there.”

Jones and owner Rick Porter were upset last summer when Havre de Grace narrowly lost the Delaware Handicap to Blind Luck while conceding two pounds to that rival. Pat Pope, the racing secretary at Delaware who assigned weights for that race, serves in the same capacity at Oaklawn and will weight the Apple Blossom nominees, too.

“There’s nothing set in stone about where Havre de Grace starts,” Jones said. “We’ll nominate to the Apple Blossom and the Oaklawn Handicap. If our gut tells us we’re not getting a fair shake on weights, we’re not going to do it. We do understand that we’re going to give most every horse in the country weight this year, but I’m not giving multiple Grade 1 stakes winners a lot of weight.”