The very handsome GRAND ARCH is a better horse as he gets older although his move always needs to be timed just right. He handles wet grass, comes of his biggest win but the competition for the Woodbine Mile is fierce – WOODBINE IMAGE
WET AND WILD WOODBINE – SET FOR GRADE 1 MILE, NORTHERN DANCER and more!
Who likes soft turf? That will be the question on everyone’s mind when horses take to the grass for the Canadian Stakes – Grade 2, a Win and You’re IN event, the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile, also a Win and You’re In, and the Grade 1 Northern Dancer.
The CANADIAN is extremely wide open: OVERHEARD handles soft grass and others such as PERSONAL DIARY, BUTTON DOWN and TICKLING KATIE are all equipped with form on soggy grass.
Morning line favourite Strut the Course does not have any wet course form.
In the Mile – GRAND ARCH likes it ‘giving’ even if he does not win that often; OBVIOUSLY may be shell shocked by the soft grass and the long stretch run; ZA APPROVAL is sure to be scratched and who knows how Tower of Texas will handle it?
The Europeans are probably good bets and REPORTING STAR is the sneaky one.
In the NORTHERN DANCER, both Aldous Snow and Triple Threat are going to be unhappy on the wet grass.
TEAM CASSE DOMINATES WIN AND YOU’RE IN, AGAIN
BEYER SPEED FIGURES:
89 NATALMA – CATCH A GLIMPSE
83 SUMMER S. – CONQUEST DADDYO –
The Natalma fillies only caught a glimpse of the hind end of CATCH A GLIMPSE throughout the Grade 2 race. Co-owned by Ontario owners Mike Ambler and Jeff Begg, the half sister to top Canadian sire Old Forester ran a bit quicker than the Summer boys. TERENCE DULAY/HORSE-RACES.NET
The more the weather changes, the more the longshots come in. They still come from the Mark Casse barn, however!
For the second consecutive year, Team Casse won both the Natalama – Grade 2, and Summer Stakes-Grade 2 and both winners will indeed point to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile turf races thanks to their Win and You’re In Tickets.
It was a very cool, grey and damp day at Woodbine, a sudden change from the boiling heat that we have had right up until a few days ago. The grass was listed as good and was holding up well (although the pouring rain that began at 6 p.m. last nightwill have made it soft for today).
Lots of interesting faces in the crowd at Woodbine including Michael Iavarone, whose IEAH Stable was all the news years ago when Big Brown won the Kentucky Derby. He was in town with folks for a son of of Big Brown, Manhattan Dan.
Former Woodbine jockey NEIL POZNANSKY is in town with LEA and TRIPLE THREAT for trainer Bill Mott and assured us that LEA is doing very well and still has plenty of good races in him.
Unfortunately, Mark Casse was not in town for his stakes sweep and he is not expected at Woodbine for the Mile today.
As for the Saturday races:
Plenty of Canadian connections for the 2 winners – CATCH A GLIMPSE and CONQUEST DADDYO too.
Catch a Glimpse, an attractive chetsnut filly by City Zip, is owned by Jeff Begg’s Windways Farm (33%) and Mike Ambler (33%) along with American Gary Barber.
Begg and Ambler joined forces with the Casse team this season with the exciting 2yo BELIVEAU, bred by Windways, and now have another biggee, a filly bought by Begg for $75,000 at Keeneland last fall.
(Beliveau is currently at Windways recovering from a very serious illness.)
“I saw her at Keeneland last year and she looked fast standing still,” recalled Begg, who raced Queen’s Plate winner Victor Cooley. “I wound up buying her and then Mike Ambler and Gary Barber bought a piece of her. She always looked like she’d probably be headed to the turf with her pedigree and she proved us right.”
JEFF BEGG (holding filly) and ANNABEL BEGG (orange dress) celebrate the win by Catch a Glimpse – TERENCE DULAY PHOTO
Catch a Glimpse is out of a mare, Halo River, who was 18 when she produced the filly for breeder Branch Equine LLC iin Kentucky. The Irish River mare had not produced much in the way of good runners foe year but one of her first foals is none other than Canada’s leading sire Old Forester, a graded stakes winner on the turf.
As for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf? Well, I would expect so (onto the Breeders’ Cup). It’s in Kentucky this year, there’s a good chance the turf will be similar to today with a little give and she obviously liked it,” said Begg.
Catch a Glimpse debuted at Saratoga on July 30, but the race came off the grass and she floundered in the slop, finishing a well-beaten fifth in the five and one-half furlong sprint.
Then came her big effort in the Natalma prep over seven furlongs of grass on August 22, when she won in front-running fashion by a handy one and three-quarter lengths. She was also 8-1 that day, and the chestnut filly followed up with a dominating performance on Saturday.
Florent Geroux was brought in for the race as Jesse Campbell, who rode the filly to her maiden win, was committed to Caren, who finished third.
Said jockey Luis Contreras, aboard the 3-2 choice Gamble’s Ghost, who was also making her turf debut after an impressive maiden won on Polytrack, “My trip was perfect. By the time I got to swing out at the quarter pole, I lost a couple lengths there. She broke nice and she was nice and comfortable. She was strong at the end, but she just had a little too much to do.”
Owner/breeder Ivan Dalos of Gamble’s Ghost was non-committal about the Breeders’ Cup for his filly but said he was more likely to keep the filly at home and prepare her for next year.
CONQUEST DADDYO is an Ontario bred – foaled at Jim and Janeane Everatt and Arika Everatt Meeuse’s Shannondoe Farm in St. Thomas, ON.
A son of Scat Daddy from the Thunder Gulch mare Hanginbyamoment, the colt was a $350,000 Fasig Tipton summer yearling in 2014, bought by Conquest Stables. His dam has produced 3 grass winners of 15 races and the colt had arguably one of the better grass pedigrees in the field.
Still, he was 15-1 as invader The Zip Zip Man took most of the support based on his 2nd place finish to Riker in the Colin and the fact he is a son of City Zip. That gelding was never involved in the race.
Daddyo did not have a rider for the race as Patrick Husbands went to Conquest Enforcer, a highly regarded beginner (bred by Ivan Dalos). Joe Bravo was brought in from Kentucky.
“You can’t make this stuff up,” said Bravo. “I was on eight races at Kentucky Downs today and the card was cancelled last night. I figured I had the day off. Thanks, Mark.’
“What a cool little horse. He was so quiet and relaxed. Down the backside I watched the race unfold and he was so content and in charge of everything. When we got to the top of the lane I asked him and he was there for us. The whole race he was like that, in control of it all.
“Did you see the move he put on those horses? He made the lead a lot faster than I expected. I wish I knew him a little better. I hope I get to sit on him next time because he has a real turn of foot if you let him get into himself.”
For Casse and Conquest Stables, it was their third consecutive Summer win, following victories by My Conquestadory in 2013 in her racing debut and last year by Conquest Typhoon.
Dragon Bay was a gate scratch, leaving a field of nine hopefuls. GIGANTIC BREEZE bore out from his wide post at the break and then raced on the outside fence before being eased by Jesse Campbell. The colt, who was wearing front bandages for the first time following his debut win, was one of several with tough trips. HAMMERS VISION almost fell down while trying to make a big between horses in early stretch.
The win by Conquest Daddyo was not only worth $144,000 to his owners, but he also earned a berth into the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, Friday, October 30 at Keeneland.
“Obviously, we loved the other horse (Conquest Enforcer), but he had a tall task, especially with some give to the turf,” said Casse, reached by phone in Kentucky after the race. “I nearly scratched him but if I scratched him I didn’t know what we would do next so I went ahead and ran him.
“It doesn’t surprise me at all. This horse (Conquest Daddyo) worked extremely well on the grass the other day. Scat Daddys love the grass and this is a big, long-striding colt that’s just going to get better the farther he runs.
“I’m sure it is (next stop Keeneland). I haven’t had a chance yet to talk to Ernie (Semersky, co-owner of Conquest Stables), but he loves the Breeders’ Cup and I’m sure he’ll be excited to get there.”
ONtario bred CONQUEST DADDYO (far right) surges past Sky Marshal (far left) and Manhattan Dan (second from right) – TERENCE DULAY/HORSE-RACES.NET
