Turf Champions
BY: Steve Buffery
Woodbine’s leading trainer Mark Casse recently checked out the entries for this Saturday’s Turf Champions Day at Woodbine Racetrack and was blown away.
Turf Champions Day will feature a quartet of Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series ‘Win and You’re In’ events, headlined by the $1 million Woodbine Mile on the renowned E.P. Taylor Turf course.
“This is quite a day of racing,” said Casse, speaking over the phone on Thursday afternoon. “You’ve got the E.P Taylor, which is an extremely strong race. I think the (bet365) Summer Stakes (for two year olds) is maybe the strongest Summer I’ve seen in a long time. You’ve got some strong Euros in there. And the Woodbine Mile is a great race. I’ve been at Woodbine for a long, long time and I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a stronger group of horses running in one day at Woodbine.
“If you’re only going to do the races one day a year at Woodbine, Saturday would be a good day to do it. Some of the best in the world are running,” added Casse, who has won 51 races from 262 start this season at the Etobicoke track with purse earnings of $3,071,093.
Casse has starters in three of the four Grade 1 races on Turf Champions Day on Saturday but not in the Woodbine Mile, a race he’s won three times in the past including with Breeders’ Cup champions World Approval and Tepin.
“I don’t usually worry about all that to be honest,” said Casse, when asked if he was disappointed with not having an entry in the Mile this year. “But I am very proud that we’ve won that race. It’s been important. World Approval won it and went on to win the Breeders’ Cup (the same year, 2017). But you sit there and you look at these races this Saturday, just for instance, the (Johnnie Walker) Natalma (for two-year-old fillies) - two years ago and we finished 1-2-3 in it and the winner was And One More Time, she just won two stakes at Saratoga. The filly that was second was Vixen and she went on and won three or four stakes. And the filly that was third was Nitrogen who, to anybody who knows racing, Nitrogen is a superstar. So that just shows you the strength that these races bring.”
Casse has five entries in both the $500,000 Johnnie Walker Natalma Stakes and in the $500,000 bet 365 Summer Stakes on Saturday. He also has his four-year-old Kentucky-bred chestnut Achieve entered in the $750,000 E.P. Taylor Stakes, for filles three years and up, run over 1 ¼ miles on the E.P. Taylor turf course – the winner automatically qualifying for the Breeders’ Cup Filly & More Turf at Keeneland on Oct. 31. Achieve, sired by U.S. Triple crown winner Justify out of the Tapit mare Dreams Are Made, has won three races from four starts this year, and finished second in the Grade 2 Beverly D Stakes on Aug.1 at Colonial Downs, a neck behind another Natalma entry, South African-bred mare Gimme a Nother.
“I think it’s a very tough E.P. Taylor. I mean our filly’s nice and she ran a great race in the Beverly D but she’s got to run the race of her life (to win on Saturday),” said Casse. “It’s a tough spot. The good news about Achieve is, she’s a young mare that’s been getting better and better. But the E.P. Taylor is truly a good Grade 1.”
The E.P. Taylor Stakes has attracted a solid group of eight entries including the Kevin Attard-trained Sultana, a multiple graded stakes winning mare. Other graded stakes champions in the race include Gimme a Nother, Diamond Rain and Jancis.
A win in any of this Saturday’s stakes will propel Casse over the $20 million mark in purse earnings this year, if that doesn’t happen before this weekend.
“Right now, we’re second in North America (in earnings),” said Casse, who sits only behind Brad Cox. “We’re about $50,000 short of $20 million in purses this year. We’re second ever for our total earnings and we still have four months left this year. Last year was our best year ever, we won $23 million in purses and so it’s probably the best year ever. But is it my best year in Toronto? No. It’s been a good year, not a great year. There are some trainers there – Josie Carroll comes to mind – she’s having a phenomenal year. It’s kind of tough to do both. I pull some of my soldiers out (of Woodbine) and they win in the U.S. and that means sometimes our group is not as strong at Woodbine and you can see that.”
Casse is still pumped about his chestnut colt Military Time winning the Prince of Wales Stakes – the second jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown – on Sept. 7 at Fort Erie for owners Gary Barber and St. Elias Stable (Vincent Viola). The added good news is, Casse is considering entering Military Time in the third and final Canadian Triple Crown race, the Breeders’ Stakes on Sept. 27 at Woodbine.
“The plan right now is to think about the Breeders (Stakes). We’re keeping an eye on it,” said Casse. “It was fun to win (the Prince of Wales) for Gary Barber, who is a long-time client, and Vinnie Viola. I’ve known Vinnie for a long-time.”
Viola, the owner of the NHL Florida Panthers, won his second Kentucky Derby this year with Golden Tempo.
As for the headline race on Saturday, the 30th running of the Woodbine Mile will feature defending champion and multiple Group and graded stakes victor Notable Speech (GB) and an outstanding group of eight contenders including multiple graded stakes winner Deterministic. The winner gets an automatic berth into the Breeders’ Cup Mile. The local favorite will be the Kevin Attard-trained dark bay gelding Gas Me, who won the Grade 2 King Edward Stakes on Aug.15 for the second year in a row. Attard said Gas Me Up (Hard Spun-Chic Thrill by Smart Strike) is in great form and is three-for-three on the EP Taylor Turf course.
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