Champion Tepin (Bernstein) will bypass the GI Fourstardave H. against males Aug. 13 and will instead be pointed to the GII Woodford Reserve Ballston Spa S. for females Aug. 27, trainer Mark Casse announced Friday.
“The Fourstardave was kind of a last-minute decision and we started having to maybe rush her a little bit and when we had this heat the last few days, she's just been really dull,” Casse said. “She had a great day [Friday], but to make the Fourstardave we need to breeze her [Saturday], and we're not going to breeze her off one good day.”
The conditioner continued, “She had two or three days where she just didn't want to pick up the bit and I think it may have been the heat. She was happy today. When she sits back in her stall and doesn't want to come forward and eat mints, she's not herself. She just wasn't herself.”
The Fourstardave is run at a mile, a distance that Tepin has won at seven out of nine times, while the Ballston Spa is 1 1/16 miles. The Robert Masterson runner finished second by a head to recent GI Diana S. winner Dacita (Chi) (Scat Daddy) in last term's renewal of the Ballston Spa and this year's test is currently scheduled to be the comeback race for undefeated Lady Eli (Divine Park).
“Now we're going to look at the Ballston Spa,” Casse remarked. “If we don't go there we'll look at the [GI] Woodbine Mile [Sept. 17]. A lot will depend on the weather. If it stays really hot, it will affect our training and then that'll mess us up.”
A perfect five-for-five so far this season, Tepin was last seen scoring a history-making victory in Royal Ascot's G1 Queen Anne S. June 14.
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