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Overcoming a wide journey through the opening six furlongs, Silverton Hill's homebred Havelock responded to the urgings of jockey Florent Geroux in the stretch to wear down the favored Lonesome Street by a neck in Saturday's Grade 3, $150,000 Hanshin Cup at Arlington Park. An 8-1 chance, Havelock paid $19.60, $8 and $4.40. Taptowne led a four-way scramble for early supremacy after a quarter in :24, but narrowly yielded to 2-1 choice Lonesome Street through a half in :47 4/5 and three-quarters in 1:12. Meanwhile, Havelock raced five deep down the backside and even trailed the field of nine for a time before advancing with a four-wide rally around the turn. Lonesome Street dispensed with his dueling foes in the stretch and opened up a 2 1/2-length lead a furlong from home, but Havelock's late charge would not be denied. "(The connections) told me the race today was kind of far him so the key was to get perfect timing," Geroux said. "He broke pretty sharp and we stayed just behind the first flight. I didn't want to go five wide the whole way so I took him inside on the turn to try to save ground. I had enough horse in the turn but I didn't want to make the lead too soon. The mile is about as far as he can go. I tried to have good timing to get there." |
Havelock finished up a mile on Polytrack in 1:37. Lonesome Street clung to second by a neck over 5-2 second choice Scotus. Completing the order of finish were San Antone, Taptowne, Gleam of Hope, Ioya Bigtime, Fast Alex and Free Fighter. Achaemenes was withdrawn.
Havelock ran third in the 2011 edition of the Hanshin Cup and later distinguished himself on turf with victories in the Arlington Sprint Handicap, the Grade 2 Play the King at Woodbine and the Grade 3 Woodford at Keeneland. He then met with interference around the far turn in the Grade 2 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint and wound up trailing the field of 14. Havelock preceded this score with a third in an overnight handicap at Tampa Bay Downs and a fourth in the Grade 3 Shakertown at Keeneland. His record now stands at 18-7-0-3, $461,129.
A five-year-old gelded son of Great Notion, Havelock is trained by Darrin Miller. The Maryland-bred was produced by the stakes-placed Piconeach, a daughter of Spectacular Love.
