The highly-regarded stakes winner Mr Havercamp from the Catherine Day Phillips stable will make the first start of his four-year-old campaign this weekend in the $100,000 Steady Growth Stakes featured on Saturday afternoon’s racing program at Woodbine.
Sean and Dorothy Fitzhenry’s homebred Court Vision gelding headlines a field of 11 in the Ontario Sired Stakes event for horses three years old and up which will be contested on the Tapeta over 1-1/16 miles.
Mr Havercamp will return to action following a debut season in 2017 that earned him runner-up Sovereign Awards recognition in the Three-Year-Old Male category behind champion Channel Maker, winner of the Breeders’ Stakes.
“He got hurt in Florida over wintertime and so we were a little bit behind where would like to be, but he’s come to hand this early summertime well and he’s doing well and we’re really happy to have him back to the races,” said Day Phillips.
Mr Havercamp earned closed to $200,000 in purses and went four-for-six last year, winning his first two starts and back-to-back one-mile turf stakes at Woodbine claiming the Vice Regent and Bunty Lawless titles after facing graded stakes competition in Saratoga’s Saranac where he picked up fifth-place money. He ended the season finishing second in the Sir Barton Stakes over the Tapeta course, but was disqualified for causing interference in the far turn and relegated to seventh-place.
While Mr Havercamp will make his season’s debut back on the synthetic surface, also where he broke his maiden going seven furlongs, his connections are looking forward to his return to the turf as the season progresses.
“He’s a tremendous horse. We had an amazing season with him last year — so many thrills,” said Day Phillips, reflecting on his 2017 campaign. “I’ve gone to Saratoga with him with Sean and Dorothy Fitzhenry. His races back at Woodbine were very good as well. We’re just really happy to have him back again and look forward to seeing him run on Saturday and look forward to getting back on the turf too.”
Mr Havercamp will be reunited with regular reinsman Eurico Rosa Da Silva, a three-time winner of the Steady Growth, when he leaves from post nine on Saturday. Da Silva’s latest win in this stakes event was in 2016 when he partnered with Where’s the Widget, who will be looking to regain winning form in this year’s Steady Growth for trainer Ralph Biamonte and owner Mary Biamonte with Omar Moreno picking up the mount.
Defending champion Keen Gizmo is also among the contenders with Luis Contreras back aboard off an early June turf outing for trainer Josie Carroll and owner Ivan Dalos.
The field also includes some of Mr Havercamp’s familiar rivals in Kingsport and Roxy’s Vision, the Sir Barton winner and third-placed-second finisher, as well as the season-debuting Nipigon, who ran fourth in the Bunty Lawless.
Here is a look at the complete field for Saturday’s Steady Growth Stakes, which is scheduled as race eight on the 1 p.m. program:
$100,000 Steady Growth Stakes
Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer
1. Kingsport – Patrick Husbands – Sid Attard
2. Drumcliff – David Moran – Ian Black
3. Keen Gizmo – Luis Contreras – Josie Carroll
4. Badjeros Boy – Sunny Singh – George Billers
5. Where’s the Widget – Omar Moreno – Ralph Biamonte
6. Roxy’s Vision – Alan Garcia – Ian Black
7. Singandcryindubai – Rafael Hernandez – Norm McKnight
8. Nipigon – Steve Bahen – Rachel Halden
9. Mr Havercamp – Eurico Rosa Da Silva – Catherine Day Phillips
10. Chris’ Brew – Chantal Sutherland – Kevin Attard
11. Narrow Escape – Gary Boulanger – Justin Nixon
More from Canadian Thoroughbred:
