Injury Forces Havre de Grace To Retire

has retired suddenly due to an ankle injury, according to multiple news reports.

The five-year-old thoroughbred, named Horse of the Year in 2011, was examined after a hot spot was detected in the ankle recently, Racingpost.com reported. The filly was retired immediately.

She is owned by Rick Porter of Fox Hill Farms in Delaware.

"It is with great disappointment that I have to announce that Havre de Grace has been retired. We didn't get a positive prognosis for continuing her racing career," Porter said, according to Racingpost.com.

The management of the stable that she called home even visited Havre de Grace to tackle the ever-puzzling pronunciation of the name the horse and the city share.

that he is partial to the French pronunciation, which spurned the name of the old Havre de Grace thoroughbred track "The Graw."

The horse was named after Havre de Grace due to its ties to horse racing history, namely as the home to , the one-mile track located on what is now the National Guard. The Graw hosted legendary thoroughbreds like Man o' War, War Admiral, and Seabiscuit.

"I named it after the town and the race track. I know they had a first-class race track, and I've been through Havre de Grace many times," Porter said. "I thought it was a cool name, and it had a nice catchy tune to it."

Havre de Grace celebrates that heritage with an annual .

The Associated Press reported that Havre de Grace "won nine of 17 starts and earned $2,586,175" in her career.

Stay with Patch for updates.

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