Mr Havercamp on course for Woodbine Mile

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Mr Havercamp, the fourth-place finisher in the Forbidden Apple Stakes at Belmont Park on July 14, will be pointed toward the Grade 1, $800,000 Woodbine Mile on Sept. 15, trainer Catherine Day Phillips said.

The Woodbine Mile has been a target for Mr Havercamp since his win in the Steady Growth Stakes to kick off his 2018 campaign on June 16, Day Phillips said. Mr Havercamp ran in the Forbidden Apple because he couldn’t make the Grade 2 King Edward Stakes at Woodbine on June 30.

“We were going to aim for the Mile after his first race and then we worked backwards from there,” Day Phillips said. “We went to New York because we wanted a race around that time. He wasn’t ready for the King Edward.”

Day Phillips said Mr Havercamp has a few options available to him for his next start. He could run in an Ontario-sired allowance over one mile on turf on Aug. 6, or wait for the Grade 2, $175,000 Play the King Stakes over seven furlongs on the Woodbine turf on Aug. 25. A stakes winner on synthetic, Mr Havercamp could also be pointed to the Grade 3, $125,000 Seagram Cup Stakes on the Tapeta Aug. 12.

Day Phillips said she was pleased with Mr Havercamp’s race in the Forbidden Apple. He settled off of the pace along the inside under jockey Junior Alvarado and made up a length on front-running winner Voodoo Song in the stretch.

“I thought he ran a great race,” Day Phillips said. “He was a little green. He was looking around a little bit. Junior said after the race it was hard to ride him because he was looking around. I don’t know if it was because it was a different track.”

A return to the familiarity of Woodbine could suit Mr Havercamp in the Woodbine Mile. Mr Havercamp is undefeated in three starts on the Woodbine turf course, and earned a career-best 101 Beyer Speed Figure in the Bunty Lawless Stakes as a 3-year-old last October.