Courtesy of the Paulick Report:

Owner Rick Porter reported today that Horse of the Year Havre de Grace has been retired following the detection of an injured ligament. On the Fox Hill Farm website, Porter writes:

“It is with great disappointment that I have to announce that Havre de Grace has been retired.”

“After her work yesterday at Churchill, a little heat was noted in her  right front ankle.  Still there this morning, Grace was sent to Rood  & Riddle to be seen by Dr. Larry Bramlage.  Unfortunately, we didn’t  get a positive prognosis for continuing her racing career.”

“Owning Grace through her racing career has been the highlight of my time  in horse racing.  She was a wonderful, wonderful racehorse, and I feel  confident she’ll be an equally wonderful broodmare.   Thanks, Grace, for  all you gave us, and here’s to a long and enjoyable retirement.”

Porter told the Blood Horse that the 5-year-old daughter of Saint Liam would either be sold privately or go through the sales ring this fall.

“I have a good ballpark figure (in mind) of what she’s worth,” Porter  said. “We’ll have to see if someone wants to buy her before she goes  through a sale so that they don’t have to go through a bidding war. If  two of us can get together, we will; if we don’t, she’ll go through a  sale.”

In his report, Dr. Bramlage said with the one injured ligament, the remaining ligaments supporting the fetlock would progressively become more vunerable and susceptible to further injury.

“In a lesser horse we would rehabilitate, probably using stem cell therapy, but it takes a year to fully resolve, and it usually reduces a horse’s quality.  In her instance this is not acceptable, and so we should probably stop her race career.  She needs 60 days of stall rest and hand walking before turning out.  She needs no special therapy if we are not going to train again as the remaining ligaments are intact because this was identified so early in the course of the problem.  She will be fine as a broodmare.”