CUTE FOAL OVERLOAD
A series of photos taken by LEILA PINGOL of a brand new colt by OLD FORESTER from the mare SAINT JUDY by Mineshaft, foaled at Northern Dawn.
THE BIG CHILL
Hair-freezing temps in Ontario this weekend, in the range of -30 Celcius, but the good news, as the Woodbine backstretch opens next week and the training track starts to get busy on Wednesday, there is some break in the weather. The temps next week read -5 and snow will be coming later in the week.
The racing action is hot and heavy once again in parts south: Tampa Bay Downs has a bunch of stakes events including the grassy Endeavour in which champions TEPIN and LEXIE LOU are entered. TEPIN makes her first start since the Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1) win (110 Beyer Figure) and she towers over this field.
It will be interesting to see if both take part for trainer Mark Casse but the guess is that Lexie Lou could be kept in the barn for another turf stake race later on.
The red-hot JOSIE CARROLL barn sends out Eugene Melnyk’s KARIBU GARDENS in the Tampa Bay Handicap with $150,000 and he meets a big field including Ontario-bred SOLEMN TRIBUTE, owned by American based Lael Stable.
A piece about TEPIN and LEXIE LOU from Tampa Bay Downs media:
Robert E. Masterson’s 5-year-old mare Tepin fits the bill on all counts. Her 2016 debut, which is scheduled to take place in Saturday’s Grade III, $150,000 Lambholm South Endeavour Stakes on the grass at Tampa Bay Downs, has been eagerly anticipated by insiders and horse racing fans since her dominant victory in the Breeders’ Cup Mile on the turf at Keeneland against a field of males on Oct. 31.
Tepin nailed down an Eclipse Award as 2015 Champion Grass Female with that effort, to go with three other graded-stakes victories, including the Grade I Longines Just a Game at Belmont and the Grade I First Lady at Keeneland.
Her trainer, Mark Casse, is making no secret of his desire to put Tepin in position for a run at another Breeders’ Cup triumph and back-to-back Eclipse Awards. He is tentatively planning to point her to the Grade I Maker’s Mark Mile against males at Keeneland on April 15.
“We feel she is training super,” said Casse, whose son Norman Casse is mainly responsible for the Kentucky-bred’s day-to-day care. “She is the same Tepin we saw last year, and we’re expecting big things from her again.”
Julien Leparoux, who rode Tepin in each of her seven 2015 starts, has been named to ride her in the mile-and-a-sixteenth Lambholm South Endeavour.
The daughter of Bernstein-Life Happened, by Stravinsky, is one of four horses entered by Casse for the Festival Preview Day Presented by Lambholm South card, which offers $650,000 in stakes purses. Post time for the first of 12 races is 12:15 p.m. The Lambholm South Endeavour is the eighth race on the card.
Other expected starters from the Casse barn include owner Gary Barber’s 5-year-old mare, Lexie Lou, in the Lambholm South Endeavour, with Antonio Gallardo slated to ride; Barber’s 3-year-old gelding Whatawonderflworld, in the Grade III, $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes, with Jose Lezcano in the irons; and John C. Oxley’s 6-year-old horse, Sky Captain, in the Grade III, $150,000 Tampa Bay Stakes, with Gallardo aboard.
The Sam F. Davis, to be contested at a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the main dirt track, is the fifth race on the card. The Tampa Bay Stakes, a mile-and-a-sixteenth turf event, is the 10th. Also on the card is the $100,000 Suncoast Stakes, a mile-and-40-yard main track race for 3-year-old fillies carded as the ninth race.
While Tepin shows all signs of being eager to return to action, Casse expressed concern that three of her last four workouts at Palm Meadows Training Center in Boynton Beach on Florida’s east coast came on the dirt because of rainy weather. She finally returned to the turf last Saturday, posting a four-furlong breeze in 49.45 seconds.
“It has been a bit of a challenge getting her ready because of the weather. That said, all systems are go,” the elder Casse said. “She is a tough horse and a good work horse, and that helps you because those kind of horses put a lot into it. I believe in confidence, and she has a lot of confidence. She got into a groove last year and hopefully it will keep going.
“The field she beat on Breeders’ Cup Day – I am still amazed by it, and very proud of her,” added Casse, who also won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf with Catch a Glimpse. “Tepin has really thrived under Norman’s care.”
Lexie Lou took the first step toward getting her groove back in a turf allowance/optional claiming event on Jan. 13 at Tampa Bay Downs, finishing third behind Bureau de Change and Lovely Loyree, both entered in the Lambholm South Endeavour.
That was the first start in almost a year for Lexie Lou, who won the Queen’s Plate against males as a 3-year-old en route to being voted Canada’s Horse of the Year, Champion 3-Year-Old Filly and Champion Grass Female. She scratched her left eye last summer and was given the rest of the year off.
Casse and Barber are still discussing whether to bring Lexie Lou back in the Grade II, $200,000 Hillsborough Stakes on the Tampa Bay Downs turf on March 12, but for now, she is ticketed to take on Tepin and the others Saturday. “We’re trying to get her back into peak form, and our feeling is she needs to get another start,” Casse said. “I think her last race was a lot better than it looked on paper; she probably ran 60 feet more than the winner.”
QUEEN’S PLATE NEWS
BATTERY powers to big in, 86 Beyer Figure
The Queen’s Plate is many months down the road yet but it is always interesting to mark down Canadian-bred horses who are doing well in other parts of the world during the winter months.
BATTERY, while sporting somewhat of an unfortunate name, has zoomed close to the top of Plate favourites with a nice win at 9 furlongs in an allowance race at Gulfstream Park this week, notching an 86 Beyer Figure. Battery is owned by the Harrell family of Texas which also races as part of Alto racing (had Materiality on the 3-year-old classic trail last year). Todd Pletcher trains the son of Bernardini – Flawless Diamond by Saint Ballado.
Battery was bred by Anderson Farms which purchased his dam for $55,000 in 2008 at the Keeenland November sale for $55,000. The mare was in foal to Exchange Rate and that offspring was the stakes winning 2yo filly BLUE HEART.
