The Runhappy Hopeful Stakes on Labor Day is the traditional closing-day feature of Saratoga Race Course’s elite summer meet and often is a showcase of rising stars who will play a role on the road to the Kentucky Derby through the winter and into next year’s spring.
Month: September 2020
Is Enforceable Good Enough To Take This Derby Field? Casse Says We’ll Find Out
Trainer Mark Casse will saddle the big gray Enforceable in the Derby this afternoon wondering the same thing the rest of us are — is the son of Tapit good enough to face down Tiz the Law and the other standouts in this year's field?
“I don't know, honestly,” Casse told reporters early Friday. “We think we have a shot. Obviously we have a better shot than most because we're in the race. I know our horse is as good as he can get. Is he good enough? I don't know.”
Enforceable comes to the race off a fourth-place finish in the Grade 2 Blue Grass and a fifth in the G2 Louisiana Derby. Before that though, he was second in the G2 Risen Star and the G3 Lecomte.
The interruption of racing at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, which struck just before the running of the Louisiana Derby, provided some advantage to some of this year's Kentucky Derby entrants, and Casse said Enforceable is one of them.
“If we'd ran the Derby first Saturday in May, he would not have run,” he said. “He was a tired horse. We took him home and it took him two months to get back on his feet.”
When Enforceable was turned out at Casse's Ocala farm in the spring, he weighed 960 pounds. Now, he's over 1,100 pounds on a tall and lithe frame.
Certainly some of this week's defections have created disruption to Enforceable's running style, which relies on there being early speed in the race. Expect to see a slight departure in Enforceable's come-from-behind running style this afternoon, though — Casse said while he won't be the early pace, the loss of likely early leaders combined with Enforceable's level of condition now means he may be sharper than usual and a bit closer to the early pace. Casse is also anticipating there will be a bit of cat and mouse between Tiz the Law and Bob Baffert's runners, as either Baffert horse could be dangerous if allowed to run away with the early lead.
In the end, like many Derby trainers, Casse said he's just grateful to be going to the post this afternoon, even if the experience of the Derby is a little more quiet and surreal this year. The absence of the crowd also means he may not be relegated to squinting at the race on the television screens in the paddock, as per his usual habit.
“I'm just happy — there was a long time I didn't know if we'd have a Derby, so I'm just appreciative we are,” he said. “I'll probably get to see the race better than I've ever seen it…I may actually get to watch this one live.”
Thanks to the National Turfwriters and Broadcasters Association (NTWAB), which has assembled a group of pool reporters providing independent reporting to members unable to be on the Churchill Downs grounds this year due to COVID-19 restrictions.
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Tapit Firster ‘Rises’ To the Occasion at Churchill
Essential Quality (Tapit) overcame some mid-stretch traffic trouble and shot away from his rivals to easily capture Saturday’s fourth race at Churchill Downs and earn ‘TDN Rising Star’ status in the process.
Bet into 19-10 favoritism in what appeared to be a strong race on paper, the Godolphin homebred broke without incident and settled in about sixth position down the backstretch racing in about the four path. Sent along to split horses at the 2 1/2-furlong pole, he was full of run, but was forced to steady sharply while short of room three-sixteenths of a mile out. Shaun Bridgmohan was able to get him out of jail and off the canvas at the furlong grounds, and Essential Quality did the rest, accelerating to score by four lengths in the finish.
Essential Quality’s MSW and GSP dam is a daughter of Contrive (Storm Cat), whose daughter Folklore (Tiznow) won the 2005 GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Belmont Park. Contrive was purchased by Godolphin for $3 million in foal to Pleasantly Perfect at the 2005 Fasig-Tipton November Sale. The 11-year-old Delightful Quality is the dam of a yearling colt by Uncle Mo, was barren to the same stallion for 2020 and was bred to Uncle Mo’s Darley-based Nyquist this past season.
Essential Quality is bred on the cross over Gone West that is responsible for Tapit’s Grade I winner Zazu and additional graded winners Flashback, Bandbox, Ticonderoga and Golden Hawk.
4th-Churchill Downs, $98,670, Msw, 9-5, 2yo, 6f, 1:09.98, ft.
ESSENTIAL QUALITY, c, 2, by Tapit
1st Dam: Delightful Quality (GSP, $253,900), by Elusive Quality
2nd Dam: Contrive, by Storm Cat
3rd Dam: Jeano, by Fappiano
Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $55,144. O/B-Godolphin LLC (KY); T-Brad H Cox. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
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Frankie Dettori’s Enable secures bloodless seven-length win in the Unibet September Stakes
Frankie Dettori's mount missed a beat at the start but was in front after a furlong and sprinted away in the final two furlong in the style expected of a 1-14 favourite.
