LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Mark Casse prides himself on developing young horses through racing experience. He’s not especially worried about turning out flashy debut winners, instead training his charges to learn with each start and peak in big races.
“It’s something that I try to do – I try to get them to progress,” Casse said. “I’m not so much about the first or second race.”
Casse’s 3-year-olds in action this weekend at Churchill Downs are good examples. La Cara and Sandman, both of whom took multiple tries to win their maidens, ran in the first points races toward the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby, respectively, last September at Churchill Downs. Both have continued to progress and are Grade 1 winners heading into this weekend’s classics, with La Cara about to make her 10th career start and Sandman his ninth.
First, though, Casse will saddle fellow 3-year-olds Nitrogen and Vixen in the Grade 2, $600,000 Edgewood Stakes for fillies at 1 1/16 miles on the turf on Friday afternoon. Both are graded stakes winners. Vixen is making her eighth career start and Nitrogen her seventh.
“They’re great,” Casse said. “They’re a joy. They’re the turf versions of Sandman and La Cara.”
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Nitrogen, owned by D. J. Stable, and Vixen, owned by that team in partnership with Eclipse Thoroughbreds, have met three times, and Nitrogen has finished in front of her stablemate twice. In the Grade 1 Natalma last September at Woodbine, Vixen finished second by a neck to And One More Time while Nitrogen was third, beaten less than a length as a maiden. In the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, Nitrogen was third to Cartier Award European champion Lake Victoria while Vixen was sixth. Rather than taking a post-Breeders’ Cup break, as many do, both kept ticking right along in Florida this winter.
“I do things a little differently,” Casse said. “We came out of the Breeders’ Cup, I don’t give them a lot of time. I keep them running, and it’s worked well this year.”
Indeed, it has. Vixen, who has shown the propensity to be on or just off the pace, won the Sweetest Chant and the Grade 3 Herecomesthebride at Gulfstream Park. Nitrogen, who is more of a rallying type, won the Ginger Brew at Gulfstream and the Grade 3 Florida Oaks at Tampa.
The fillies crossed paths again in the Grade 2 Appalachian on April 8 at Keeneland. Nitrogen made a sweeping move midway on the turn, took command in upper stretch, and won by 2 1/4 lengths with minimal urging from Jose Ortiz. Vixen, who was waiting inside for room while stalking the pace under Irad Ortiz Jr., made contact with a fading foe in midstretch but came on to be second.
Along with Nitrogen and Vixen, Will Then is the only other graded stakes winner in this field of nine. Will Then, in from California for Jonathan Thomas, rallied from 10th to win the Grade 3 Jimmy Durante last November. In her first start following a four-month break, she was fresh and tracked intently in second before pouncing to win the China Doll on March 23. She may be more settled with a start under her belt.
Lush Lips, second to Nitrogen in the Florida Oaks, is the most likely pacesetter. Gowells Delight, who has shown speed as well as the ability to sit just off the pace, intrigues as she makes her first start on turf. The filly has finished behind Kentucky Oaks favorite Good Cheer in her last two outings on dirt after leading early, finishing second in the Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra and third in the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks.
“She’s got a bit of a flat foot on her. I think she might like it,” trainer Kenny McPeek said of moving to turf.
Ag Bullet returns for Unbridled Sidney
Ag Bullet set the pace before fading to ninth in last year’s Grade 2 Churchill Distaff Turf Mile in her last appearance in Louisville. She is dangerous in her return, as she cuts back to 5 1/2 furlongs for the Grade 3, $400,000 Unbridled Sidney for fillies and mares on the turf Friday.
Ag Bullet, who has been training at Keeneland for her season debut for California-based Richard Baltas, has won five career stakes – three in true sprints and two at a mile. She finished 2024 with two strong efforts in Grade 1 company, finishing third by a neck in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint after getting a head in front in the stretch, and leading before finishing third by a length in the Grade 1 Matriarch at a mile in December.
There is plenty of other speed in the Unbridled Sidney, including Asternia, Crown Imperial, Epona’s Hope, and the California invader Queen Maxima, who won her third straight last out in the Grade 3 Monrovia. None, however, have shown the Grade 1-type class of Ag Bullet.
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