Mr Havercamp's ultimate goal is the Woodbine Mile

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Following his triumph in the Grade 3 Forbidden Apple Stakes at Saratoga on Friday, Mr Havercamp was back in his stall at Woodbine on Saturday morning, but a return trip to Saratoga later in the meet could be in the cards.

Trainer Catherine Day Phillips said Mr Havercamp was in good order just a few days removed from the race, and he is now on track for the Grade 1, $1 million Woodbine Mile on Sept. 14 as a long-term target. Day Phillips said the connections have worked backwards from the Woodbine Mile to determine Mr Havercamp’s schedule, and either the Grade 1, $500,000 Fourstardave Handicap at Saratoga on Aug. 10, or the Grade 3, $125,000 Seagram Cup Stakes at Woodbine on Aug. 11 are under consideration for Mr Havercamp’s next start.

“He runs well on synthetic, so the Seagram here is an option, which puts him five weeks out from the Mile,” she said. “Or the Fourstardave is back at Saratoga the same weekend. Both are options and I think it depends on how he’s doing and how we all feel about it in a week or two.”

Mr Havercamp used the Grade 2 Play the King Stakes to prep for the Woodbine Mile last season. He won the Play the King and finished second in the Woodbine Mile, but Day Phillips said she would like more time between starts this time around.

“We did the Play the King into the Mile and it’s only three weeks, which is a little tight,” she said.

Mr Havercamp returned from a seven-month layoff to win the Forbidden Apple.

“He had just had enough breezes to run,” Day Phillips said. “The Forbidden Apple was there. We had run in it last year. Saratoga is a little easier to get to than Belmont, so that’s why we aimed to go there. We felt he was of the quality of those horses. It was asking a lot coming off of a layoff to ship and go to Saratoga, but he obviously handled it perfectly fine.”

Keep On Truckin to Clarendon

Day Phillips sent out her first 2-year-old starter of the meet on July 7, and Keep On Truckin romped home to an 11 3/4-length victory under jockey Eurico Da Silva. Day Phillips said Keep On Truckin will likely make his next start in the $125,000 Clarendon Stakes on Aug. 3.

Keep On Truckin is a local yearling sales graduate and also will likely run in the $175,000 Simcoe Stakes on Aug. 28.

“That’s what we had in mind for him from the beginning,” Day Phillips said. “He has a very good mind. Even though he showed an awful lot of gas and speed in his debut, he’s a very sensible horse. He’s a very calm and relaxed horse. He’s not an aggressive horse, so I think that will bode well when we stretch out. He has a quiet class to him, which is nice.”

Keep On Truckin is the first of a number of 2-year-olds from the Day Phillips barn who will likely make their debuts over the coming weeks. Day Phillips said she has 20 2-year-olds in training this season.

A pair of 2-year-olds Day Phillips said should run soon are Ballrooms of Mars and Barilko. Ballrooms of Mars is a Sean and Dorothy Fitzhenry homebred, while Barilko was purchased for $75,000 at the 2018 Keeneland September yearling sale. Day Phillips said both horses breezed well on the turf training track Sunday.

“Ballrooms of Mars has done two nice breezes on the turf,” she said. “She gets a start in next weekend. We’ll see how she does and go from there. She’s shown a lot of class and certainly is precocious on the turf. Barilko is a little bit green but he’s coming along. He’s come along quite quickly in the last few weeks.”

Day Phillips also has Loch Garman, a 2-year-old half-brother to 2018 Queen’s Plate winner and Canadian Horse of the Year Wonder Gadot. Loch Garman was purchased for $300,000 at last September’s Keeneland yearling sale, and just recorded his first two-furlong breeze at Woodbine on Sunday.

“The other horses are breezing and he’s just starting to breeze now,” Day Phillips said. “His knees were wide open and we just got the thumbs up yesterday that he can start some easy breezing. We’ll just get into a regular breeze pattern with him. He’ll be one for the fall, but he’s coming.”