Casse’s stable rolls into Breeders’ Cup with Tepin, horses for each juvenile race

Trainer Mark Casse has his finest assembly of horses for the Breeders’ Cup this year, even if you didn’t count his champion mare Tepin, the international star who Saturday at Santa Anita Park shoots to repeat last year’s Mile victory

Casse, who after a hiatus of two decades resumed having a strong Kentucky presence several years ago, earned his first and second career Breeders’ Cup victories last year at Keeneland, with Catch a Glimpse taking the Juvenile Fillies Turf the day before Tepin’s big triumph over males. That ended an 0-for-23 record in the event dating to his first starter in 1994, after which he never ran another horse in the Breeders’ Cup until 2006. 

But the past several years, Casse has developed one of the strongest stables in North America, including his long-time Canadian base and now in Kentucky, New York and Florida.

Casse, coming off his third Keeneland training crown, is running seven horses in the Breeders’ Cup’s 13 races spread over Friday and Saturday. That includes Catch a Glimpse running in Saturday’s $2 million Filly & Mare Turf as she seeks to rebound from a drubbing in Keeneland’s Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (G1). He’s also the only trainer to have a horse in all four 2-year-old races.

“And all of them have legitimate chances,” he said of his juvenile contenders after Monday’s post-position draw.

Tepin, who drew post-position 8 for the Mile, lost for the first time in nine races when a late-running second to front-running Photo Call in Keeneland’s Grade 1 First Lady on Oct. 8. That ended a streak that included her historic win over males in Royal Ascot’s Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes and the Woodbine Million in addition to the Breeders’ Cup.

Casse has the talented duo of John Oxley’s La Coronel (impressive winner of Keeneland’s Grade 3 Jessamine) and Live Oak Plantation’s Victory to Victory (Woodbine’s Natalma winner) in Friday’s $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf, as well as Gary Barber’s Keep Quiet (Grade 3 Bourbon victor) in the $1 million Juvenile Turf. He comes back Saturday with Keeneland’s Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity victor Classic Empire in the $2 million Juvenile and Stonestreet Stables Valadorna, a six-length maiden winner at Keeneland, in the $2 million Juvenile Fillies.

La Coronel drew post 14 in the Juvenile Fillies Turf’s capacity field. It was the same post that the Casse-trained My Conquestadory had three years ago at Santa Anita when finishing fourth after a tough trip.

“She kind of lays just off the pace away,” Casse said of La Coronel. “Hopefully we can get over a little bit into the first turn. But you know what? She’s a really good horse, so she could possibly overcome it.

“… If you said to me, ‘Who could take the worst draw and get the job done?’ it would have been La Colonel. It hurts, but it’s not the end of the world. We run some horses I think have to have the perfect trip to be successful. She’s a pretty darn good horse.”

Florent Geroux, who is having a career season after relocating to Kentucky from Chicago, was given his choice between La Coronel and Victory to Victory and opted for La Coronel.

“I called him (Sunday) night and said, ‘OK, it’s time,’” Casse said of his decision. “Because he had asked me, and I said, ‘I don’t know, I don’t know. You’ve got to make the call.’ He had ridden La Coronel; she broke her maiden at Saratoga before he rode Victory Victory, and he said to Mr. Oxley, ‘We’re going to win the Breeders’ Cup with this one.’ So I think that might have been one of the determining factors.

“… I thought we got some good posts with horses who needed good posts. I think Keep Quiet (post 2) needs the perfect trip to be competitive, and he got a great post. Victory to Victory, she’s a nice horse and she drew a nice post in 5. All in all it was great. Tepin was perfect.”

Casse believes Tepin simply prefers training at Churchill Downs to Saratoga, where she was much of the summer and into the fall.

“The difference watching Tepin train at Saratoga and Churchill was unbelievable,” he said. “Maybe that was my mistake. Maybe we should have gone back to Kentucky. The problem with Kentucky is that it’s very warm. I just heard the forecast, and hopefully it’s not quite so hot” at Santa Anita.

Tepin is the Mile’s 3-1 favorite over the British gelding Limato (7-2) and the Irish 3-year-old filly Alice Springs (4-1). The field of 14 includes six horses from Keeneland’s Shadwell, including the victorious Miss Temple City, who won two Grade 1 races at Keeneland going against boys rather than taking on Tepin. A horse like What a View, a Grade 1 winner who is 5 for 5 at Santa Anita, finished eighth in the Shadwell but lost by a total of only 3 1/4 lengths. Photo Call, who upset Tepin in the First Lady, also is in the Mile.

“It seems to me this was one heck of a mile,” Casse said. “Of course whenever you’re in it you think it’s pretty tough. But I think this is an exceptional Mile. She’s doing extremely well, and we should have no excuses.”

Casse and owner Gary Barber are hoping that Catch a Glimpse, who beat males in taking the Grade 3 Penn Mile, simply did not handle the turf at Keeneland when fading to seventh in the QEII for 3-year-old fillies.

“The game plan — and it will be pretty much the same thing this time — was to make no mistake who was going to be on the lead,” Casse said. “And I told Florent that. I said, ‘There’s some speed in there. I want you to come away from there and show everybody we mean to be on the lead.’ … But our filly didn’t come out running at all.”

Catch a Glimpse, who won a pair of Grade 3 stakes at Keeneland and Churchill in the spring, already had a free entry into the Breeders’ Cup by virtue of taking the Belmont Oaks. Casse said Barber told him, “I think she’ll like Santa Anita. But it’s up to you. If you tell me she isn’t herself, that’s good enough and we’ll send her home.”

Continued Casse, “And after two weeks, I couldn’t tell him that. I said, ‘Gary, I can’t tell you this filly isn’t training really well.’ And that’s why we’re here.”

Classic Empire is the 4-1 second choice in the 1 1/16-mile Sentient Jet Juvenile, in which Churchill Downs’ Grade 3 Iroquois winner Not This Time is the 7-2 favorite (a huge plug for Ellis Park, where Not This Time won a maiden race by 10 lengths). 

The 2-year-old Classic Empire is 3 for 3 in races where he made it through the race, including taking Churchill Downs’ Grade 3 Bashford Manor in his second start. The $475,000 Keeneland yearling was favored in Saratoga’s prestigious Hopeful Stakes but wheeled at the start, losing jockey Irad Ortiz. A month later — and with blinkers added — he made amends by winning Keeneland’s 1 1/16-mile Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity (G1) by three lengths over fellow Juvenile contender Lookin At Lee. It was a huge performance in his first start around two turns and for all intents and purposes his first farther than the Bashford Manor’s six furlongs and off what amounted to three months between starts.

“Never batted an eye,” Casse said. “That just shows how good he is. The blinkers just maybe make him not see too much. He is so smart that he sees a lot of things. But I can tell you one thing, he’s a focused horse.”

Julien Leparoux, who is 3 for 3 on Classic Empire but was sidelined by injury for the Hopeful, is back in the saddle.

“Perfect draw,” Casse said. “It’s a good race. He’s going to be very tough, but it’s a tough race. Our horse has trained really well. He’s definitely one of the horses to beat. Valadorna, my take on it is the filly division is not as tough as the colt division. On that Saturday, when they ran the Alcibiades and the Frizette, I thought our filly (winning a Keeneland maiden race) was as impressive as either one of those other winners. I’m just glad we’re in there.”

The odds agree that Valadorna fits. She’s the 5-1 second choice behind Santa Anita’s Chandelier (G1) winner Noted and Quoted, the favorite at a fat 9-2.