Mr Havercamp to make stakes debut at Saratoga

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Mr Havercamp remained unbeaten in his second start when he won an allowance over 1 1/16 miles on turf by 8 1/2 lengths at Woodbine on Aug. 13. Now, with two wins by a combined 12 lengths, Mr Havercamp will make his stakes debut in his next start, trainer Catherine Day Phillips said.

While the $125,000 Vice Regent Stakes over a mile on the Woodbine turf for Ontario-sired 3-year olds on Sept. 23 would be a logical local target, Day Phillips said she had a spot at Saratoga in mind – the Grade 3, $300,000 Saranac Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on turf on Sept. 2.

“The Vice Regent would be the conservative route and the intelligent route, but it seems like the Saranac would be a bit of fun, so right now we are considering that,” she said.

Day Phillips won the Saranac in 2005 with Jambalaya. She said Mr Havercamp reminded her of Jambalaya following his maiden win July 21.

“After he broke his maiden, I was thinking about him and Jambalaya, and I thought this horse was good enough to go to the Saranac,” she said. “We were lucky enough that there was a turf race in the middle there, so we were able to test him on the turf. The thought was if he excelled on the turf, we would consider that, and he certainly seems to like the turf.”

While Mr Havercamp’s racing career started slowly, Day Phillips said he’s currently doing everything right.

“He was very immature as a 2-year-old and we weren’t able to get very far with him,” she said. “I don’t even think he breezed as a 2-year-old. Because he didn’t have a great foundation as a 2-year-old, we went fairly gently with him to bring him along and get a really good base on him. He’s looked great all year. He does everything like a nice horse.”