Le Havre was a brown or black horse with a white coronet on his left hind foot, bred in Ireland by the Team Hogdala.
[4] Le Havre's dam, the German mare Marie Rheinberg, was an unraced half-sister to the leading racehorse and sire Polar Falcon.
[5] As a yearling, Le Havre was consigned by the Haras de Coulonces to the Arqana sale at Deauville in August 2007, where he was bought for €100,000 by the French trainer Jean-Claude Rouget[6] acting on behalf of Gerard Augustin-Normand.
[10] The colt was then moved up sharply in class to contest the Group One Critérium International over the same course and distance on 2 November in which he was ridden by Ioritz Mendizabal and started 5/2 favourite in an eleven-runner field.
[11] On his first appearance as a three-year-old, Le Havre ran in the Listed Prix Djebel over 1400 metres at Maisons-Laffitte Racecourse on 10 April.
Most of the attention for the race was focused on the Freddy Head-trained favourite Naaqoos, who had won the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère and was regarded as a leading fancy for the 2000 Guineas.
[14] Le Havre was one of seventeen colts to contest the 172nd running of the Prix du Jockey Club over 2100 metres at Chantilly Racecourse on 7 June.
Le Havre was not among the early leaders and turned into the straight in seventh place, positioned close to the inside rail before Lemaire switched him to the outside approaching the last 400 metres.