Mark Casse

MONIQUE EN VOL (f, 2, Flightline--Monique's Candy, by Candy Ride {Arg}), debuting here for owner/breeder St. Elias Stables, came home under a confident ride from Florent Geroux to graduate from the maiden ranks at first-asking during the lucrative Kentucky Downs meeting. Unhurried after the jump as Compass Sixty (Liam's Map) stepped out to control the tempo, she was content to watch the action unfold from seventh while enjoying a ground saving trip just off the fence in the two path. Steadily improving her position as the pacesetters began throwing out...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - With temperatures expected to hover from the high 80s to the low 90s for the next week in Louisville, Kentucky, Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse decided to keep his star filly Nitrogen (Medaglia d'Oro) out of the Bluegrass furnace. Originally scheduled to ship to Kentucky from Saratoga on Sunday--where the 4-year-old was being pointed to the GII Locust Grove Stakes at Churchill Downs next Saturday--Casse will pivot and ship Nitrogen to Belmont Park on Tuesday. The news was first reported by Dave Grening and the...

This is the third installment in what will be an ongoing series, presented by Hagyard, in which we catch up with the connections behind TDN Rising Stars. We'll go beyond the flashy performances to uncover the decisions that helped shape these future stars. Sometimes, you can just tell. When Jaded (Olympiad), the latest "TDN Rising Star, Presented by Hagyard" was growing up at Gainesway, the farm's general manager and managing partner of sales operations Brian Graves, thought the young colt, who would later be named Jaded, had a bright future....

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - On his final day at Saratoga Race Course, Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse had a little bit of business before closing out shop for the summer. Casse leaves Saratoga on Thursday, bound for Kentucky Downs. On a raw, overcast Wednesday morning at the Spa, Casse sent two horses with fall goals out for their final Saratoga workouts. One of them, Nitrogen (Medgalia d'Oro) has a lofty target as she is set to return to the Breeders' Cup. The other, Sandman (Tapit), continues on the comeback...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY--The chase continues for jockey Manny Franco. For just about all of the summer at Saratoga, Franco, along with everyone else in the jockey colony, has been on the hunt, trying to catch Jose Ortiz. Ortiz has held the top spot in the Spa riding standings for much of the meet. Now, with days dwindling down to a precious few, Ortiz is not a sure thing. Franco, like a huge tidal wave, is coming. Heading into Saturday's Travers Day card, Franco had cut Ortiz's lead to eight, 64-56....

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Fans of the 1960s TV show "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." have their horse in Saturday's 157th running of the $1.25-million GI Travers Stakes. The lead character in the campy spy show was an agent named Napoleon Solo. His four-legged namesake, a grey blur of a 3-year-old horse, is running in the Midsummer Derby. And, if you want to win the race, you'd better have your running shoes on because Napoleon Solo (Liam's Map) the horse is the one the other nine entered are going to have...

To quote the English author Charles Dickens, from his 1859 novel A Tale of Two Cities: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." I choose to believe we are currently living in the golden age of American racing. The purse structure we are currently experiencing is at an all-time high. The quality of racing that we have witnessed in the last decade surpasses anything we have seen in the history of our sport. If you have followed racing over the last 10 years, you have...

Eye-popping purses at Kentucky Downs attract attention for seven days of racing from Aug. 29 to Sept. 9, but more turf champions have been made on the aptly named Turf Champions Day on Sept. 12 at Woodbine's European-style E. P. Taylor Turf Course, arguably the finest turf course in North America. Only three tracks in the world host four or more Breeders' Cup Challenge Series races on a single day: Longchamp, in Paris; Meydan, in Dubai; and Woodbine, in Toronto, which holds Turf Champions Day on Saturday, Sept. 12. The...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott got comfy in his favorite chair in his living room Saturday night in the Spa City. Set the timer on his phone and shut his eyes. His assistant, Neil Poznansky, had gone to sleep by 8 but made sure his clock would wake him around 9:30 p.m. Both wanted to make darn sure they didn't miss the $1-million GI Pacific Classic at Del Mar. They awoke in time to watch the 5-year-old Knightsbridge (Nyquist) put on a dazzling show on...

Saratoga Maidens, Presented by Keeneland Bach Stables' Chief of Peace (Munnings), a 15-1 outsider, just got his nose in front of 3-5 favorite And the Runner Is (Oscar Performance) and pacesetting Harbaugh (Not This Time) to graduate in his 1 1/16-mile debut over the lawn at Saratoga Sunday. The dark bay ridgling settled just off the pace in third as Harbaugh set a modest tempo up front with his Mark Casse stablemate And the Runner Is in close attendance. When Harbaugh drifted out into the lane, Chief of Peace had...

My Gun's Loaded (Gun Runner) made a menacing move while floated out five wide by Counting Stars (Honor A. P.) at the top of the stretch and kept on coming with massive strides down the lane beneath Manny Franco to outbattle Measure (Essential Quality) in dramatic fashion by a neck in Saturday's GI Alabama S. at Saratoga. Counting Stars, the 1-4 favorite following statement-making victories over My Gun's Loaded's Chad Brown-trained stablemate and GI Kentucky Oaks heroine Always a Runner (Gun Runner) in the GI Acorn S. and GI Coaching...

Live Oak Plantation's And One More Time (f, 4, Omaha Beach--Complicated, by Blame) both outfinished her rivals and overcame a stewards' inquiry to win the GII Ballston Spa Stakes at Saratoga Saturday. A Grade I winner at two and victress of the Spa's De La Rose Stakes at a mile last out July 17, And One More Time waited patiently in the gate for the break while several of her rivals proved a tad unruly, including 4-5 choice and dual Grade I winner Segesta (Ghostzapper). When the gates finally opened,...