HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Mark Casse, who has a seemingly endless supply of talented turf runners in his barn, will run out yet another one, the Grade 1-placed Ice Chocolat, in Wednesday’s $98,000 main event at Gulfstream Park. The race will be decided at 7 1/2 furlongs on turf and is the first of two allowance and optional-claiming events on the nine-race card.
Ice Chocolat has not started since winning the Grade 3 Poker going one mile at Saratoga last June. The race was to have served as a prep for the Grade 1 Fourstardave Handicap six weeks later, a race Ice Chocolat bypassed after Casse decided to send him to the sidelines for the remainder of the season. Ice Chocolat had finished third, beaten just 1 1/4 lengths by Casa Creed, in the 2023 Fourstardave.
“Ice Chocolat is a horse we’ve had a long time and know pretty well, and I just didn’t think he bounced out of the Poker as well as I’d have liked,” Casse explained. “I just felt he wasn’t where I wanted him to be to compete in a race like the Fourstardave, and ultimately just decided to give him the rest of the year off.”
Casse said Ice Chocolat has trained well for his return and that he is hopeful Ice Chocolat’s poised for yet another big year.
“This looks like a good spot to come back in, and hopefully will lead to bigger and better things down the road,” Casse added.
Irad Ortiz Jr., who rode Ice Chocolat to a similarly conditioned allowance win here last winter, will re-unite with the 7-year-old gelding for his 2025 debut.
A strong field of eight was drawn for the headliner, which also includes the stakes winner Tut’s Revenge for trainer Mike Maker along with two starters each from the potent barns of Marty Drexler and Jose D’Angelo. Drexler will send out the recently graded stakes-placed Classic Mo Town and Skyro. D’Angelo counters with the graded stakes-placed sprinter Johnny Podres, who will be stretching out around two turns, and stakes winner Sosua Summer.
Portofino and Ruse complete the lineup.
Casse has big day
Casse won a pair of stakes over the turf on Saturday’s Fountain of Youth undercard with the odds-on Vixen in the Grade 3 Herecomesthebride and Mi Bago, who set a lightning fast pace and still kept going strongly to register a popular 4 3/4-length triumph in the Colonel Liam. The Casse-trained Classic Q finished a close fourth in the Herecomesthebride.
“I was expecting a little bit of a bounce from Vixen off her big effort winning the Sweetest Chant in her first start of the year four weeks earlier, probably got it, yet she was still able to win,” Casse noted. “And Classic Q got a little unlucky or she probably could have won the race too. The race should set them both up nicely for the Appalachian at Keeneland.”
Casse was over the moon about the performance of Mi Bago in the one-mile Colonel Liam. Mi Bago has now won three stakes at the meet and four overall in his seven-race career.
“I thought he was awesome,” Casse enthused. “He showed he can run fast and still keep going. He’s at the top of his game now and should not be bouncing off that effort in his next start, which will probably be in the Transylvania at Keeneland.”
White Abarrio thriving
White Abarrio, whose 6 1/4-length victory over Locked in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup was flattered even further when the latter returned with a dominating performance to win Saturday’s Big Cap at Santa Anita, was back on the work tab for the second time here Sunday. He breezed a very easy half-mile in 48.02 seconds, per Daily Racing Form, while under total wraps at the wire before galloping out five-eighths wide into the turn in 1:01.89.
“Last week he worked a little too fast, so I put him in company with a horse that he could just cruise up next to on Sunday and go easily. We didn’t want him to do much, just enjoy it, and he did,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said. “Locked’s performance the other day obviously flattered his form. I thought our horse was doing as good as he’s ever been going into the Pegasus and I think he’s doing just as good if not even better than ever now.”
White Abarrio is scheduled to make his next start in the Grade 3 Ghostzapper on the Florida Derby undercard here March 29.
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