Ontario invader Mr Havercamp upsets Forbidden Apple

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Catherine Day Phillips doesn’t come to Saratoga often. But when she does, she doesn’t just come to run. She comes to win.

Mr Havercamp was just the third horse Day Phillips has started at Saratoga during her training career, and he became her second winner after rallying to a half-length victory over Hembree in Friday’s $150,000 Forbidden Apple. Qurbaan, the 2-1 favorite in the Grade 3 turf fixture for older horses, finished third.

Day Phillips first came to the Spa in 2005 to win the Saranac with Jambalaya who ultimately won a pair of Grade 1 races including the 2007 Arlington Million. She did not return until last summer when sending out Mr Havercamp to finish fifth in the Saranac.

“Jambalaya was a very special horse to me and this horse reminds me a lot of him,” said the Woodbine-based Day Phillips. “We brought [Mr Havercamp] here last year for the Saranac, he ran well, but didn’t quite get the job done. But we brought him back again and he got the job done today.”

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Mr Havercamp, idle since finishing well back in the Grade 2 Ft. Lauderdale seven months earlier at Gulfstream Park, raced well placed within easy striking distance of the pacesetting Gidu, rallied three wide into the stretch, overtook the tiring leader inside the eighth pole, edged clear then held safe the final bids of both Hembree and Qurbaan.

Mr Havercamp, who was ridden to victory by Junior Alvarado, is a 5-year-old homebred son of Court Vision owned by Sean and Dorothy Fitzhenry. He paid $29.60 after completing a mile over a yielding inner turf in 1:37.50.

“Junior gave him a perfect ride,” said Day Phillips. “I was a little concerned with him being on the inside course, he’d never been on a tight course like that before. But he had a great spot and Junior said 'He just took me to the lead.'”

Day Phillips said Mr Havercamp “got a little hurt,” so she gave him a little break following his 2018 finale in the Ft. Lauderdale. “He came back well and it seems he’s come back right where he left off,” said Day Phillips. “This was a little steeper of a first race than we really wanted but the Woodbine Mile is really our goal, so we just worked back from that and it brought us here. And Saratoga is Saratoga. It’s great to be here.”