Mr Havercamp getting a brief rest

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Following his first graded stakes win in the Grade 2 Play the King Stakes on Aug. 25, Mr Havercamp added Grade 1 black type with a runner-up finish to Oscar Performance in the Woodbine Mile on Sept. 15. With two hard races under his belt three weeks apart, and warm weather in the Toronto area on Woodbine Mile Day, trainer Catherine Day Phillips said Mr Havercamp would get a small break before resuming his training in a couple of weeks.

“He had a really hard time with the heat after the Mile,” she said. “We just backed off on him and will give him a bit of a break. The cool weather will be to his enjoyment.”

A break in training would rule out a potential trip to Churchill Downs for the Breeders’ Cup Mile. Mr Havercamp is not Breeders’ Cup nominated, and his connections would have to pay a $100,000 supplemental nomination fee in order to start there.

“We’ll sit on him and see and let the next week or two tell us what’s happening with him,” Day Phillips said. “He’ll also go on the Tapeta, so we have lots of options with him, really. We’d be looking for something into November. That would be our first order of business at the earliest.”The versatile son of Court Vision has won on both turf and Tapeta, and he is eligible for restricted Ontario-bred and Ontario-sired races.

“We’re just giving him a little break now and going easy,” Day Phillips said. “He had two hard races in a row, back to back. The Play the King was a hard race and it was three weeks before the Mile. Hopefully, we’ll regroup for a fall race or two.”