Casse Trainees Put in Final BC Works

Tepin | Horsephotos

While Mark Casse's Keeneland-based Breeders' Cup duo of Catch a Glimpse (City Zip) and Valadorna (Curlin) had their final breezes Thursday, the conditioner sent his five Churchill-based Championship runners, including Tepin (Bernstein), to the track for their final works Friday morning.

Robert Masterson's Tepin breezed a half-mile on the Louisville main track in :49 flat (16/39) in preparation for a title defense in the GI Breeders' Cup Mile. Piloted by regular rider Julien Leparoux, the Eclipse winner was clocked in splits of :12.20 and :24.60 and galloped out five furlongs in 1:01 and six panels 1:16.60.

“It was a very exciting day. It's an awesome experience to have these types of horses and then prepare so many horses for the Breeders' Cup so it was a pretty important day,” said Norman Casse, son and assistant to Mark Casse. “Tepin did her typical thing. She's become much more manageable as she's gotten older. We were just out there looking for a maintenance-type work. It was a pretty good work for her.”

Tepin won her first six starts this year, including the G1 Queen Anne S. at Royal Ascot and the GI Ricoh Woodbine Mile, and finished a solid second behind a runaway Photo Call (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in Keeneland's GI First Lady S. last time Oct. 8. It is still up in the air whether or not the 5-year-old will remain in training after the Breeders' Cup.

“Nobody has actually discussed that,” Casse said. “I don't think there's any time table or any plans for Tepin right now after the Breeders' Cup. We're just going race by race and we're focused on trying to repeat as Breeders' Cup champion.”

John Oxley's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf contender La Coronel (Colonel John) covered a half-mile in :47.80 (6/39) over the main track with jockey Florent Geroux in the irons. An impressive winner of Keeneland's GIII JP Morgan Chase Jessamine S. Oct. 12, the dark bay was caught in fractions of :12.20 and :24 with a gallop out in 1:00.40 and 1:14.80.

“La Coronel actually reminds me of [Tepin] and the way that she used to be,” Casse said. “She's kind of headstrong and always on the bridle. I really hold her in high regard. If you look at her she's similar in a lot of ways. We started off on the dirt because she was showing so much talent on the dirt that we thought she was a good dirt horse and she actually kind of disappointed us a little bit and then we put her on the grass and it made her really excel. It just seems like she's really talented and the best thing about her is that she'll have a perfect trip. That makes a big difference in some of those races.”

Casse's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile entrant Classic Empire (Pioneerof the Nile) and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf runner Keep Quiet (Fr) (Elusive City) worked a half-mile together in :50 flat (31/39). With Leparoux on GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity hero Classic Empire and Geroux aboard GIII Dixiana Bourbon S. winner Keep Quiet, the duo clocked splits of :12.80 and :25 with a gallop out in 1:03 and 1:16.40.

Leparoux also worked Live Oak Plantation's GI Natalma S. heroine Victory to Victory (Exchange Rate), who covered four furlongs in :48.40 (10/39). The Juvenile Fillies Turf hopeful recorded fractions of :24 and :36 with a gallop out in 1:01.20.

“We brought out Classic Empire and Keep Quiet together,” Casse said. “They went off a little slower than we would have liked, but they finished strong and galloped out great with their last eighth of a mile in 1:13 and change for three-quarters so I thought they worked really well. Victory to Victory worked after the break and I think she's kind of coming in under the radar a little bit. She's a very, very talented horse.”

Stellar Wind 'Smooth' in Distaff Breeze…

Champion Stellar Wind (Curlin) joined the string of Breeders' Cup contenders putting in their final works Friday, breezing six furlongs in company with GII Marathon S. contender Hard Aces (Hard Spun) in 1:13.20 (2/6) at Santa Anita Friday (Video). Her Grade I-winning workmate was clocked in 1:13.60 (4/6).

“It was her usual work, smooth, no problems, so we're right where we're supposed to be,” said trainer John Sadler.

Stellar Wind will take on fellow champions Beholder (Henny Hughes) and Songbird (Medaglia d'Oro) in the Nov. 4 GI Breeders' Cup Distaff, a race in which she finished a neck second last year. The chestnut has defeated Beholder in two of their three meetings, most recently scoring a narrow victory in the GI Zenyatta S. Oct. 1.

GISW “TDN Rising Star” Tara's Tango (Unbridled's Song) also worked in Arcadia Friday, covering five furlongs in :59.80 (3/26) (Video) in preparation for the GI Breeders' Cup F/M Sprint.

“Very nice,” said trainer Jerry Hollendorfer. “She's doing great and had a good gallop out.”

Also on the worktab was Chilean GI Breeders' Cup Mile contender Kitcat (Chi) (Scat Daddy), who worked five panels in :59.60 (2/26) (Video).

Juvenile Turfers Have Final Breezes in Lex…

A trio of Breeders' Cup-bound juvenile turf runners put in their final breezes ahead of the championships over the Keeneland turf course Friday morning, led by European import Spain Burg (Fr) (Sageburg {Ire}).

Winner of Newmarket's G2 Shadwell Rockfel S., a “Win and You're In” for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, Spain Burg was subsequently purchased by Dean and Patti Reeves for $1,686,000 a the Arc Sale in France Oct. 1. Arriving at trainer Kathy Ritvo's Keeneland barn Oct. 18, the bay, who is campaigned by the Reeves in partnership with R.A. Hill Stable, worked five furlongs on firm turf in 1:04 under David Flores (Video) and leaves for Santa Anita Saturday. Ritvo was pleased with the work calling it “perfect.”

“Her record stands for itself,” said Ritvo, who became the first female conditioner to win the GI Breeders' Cup Classic in 2013 with the Reeves' Mucho Macho Man (Macho Uno). “I was really, really excited when [Dean Reeves] called me and told me that we got her. We just started working on getting her here and making a plan.”

Trainer Joe Sharp worked GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf also-eligible Kitten's Cat (Kitten's Joy) and Juvenile Fillies Turf also-eligible Majestic Gale (Majestic Warrior) in company Friday. The pair covered four furlongs in :49.60 (1/2).

Three Rules Continues BC Prep…

Undefeated GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile contender Three Rules (Gone Astray) breezed a best-of-21 five furlongs in :57.64 at his trainer Jose Pinchin's Gulfstream base Friday morning (Video).

“It was a little fast but there was a very strong breeze,” said Pinchin. “Everything has been going good. I couldn't be happier.”

The four-time stakes winner will ship to Kentucky Sunday morning and fly to California from there Monday.

 

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