Family Ties Run Deep In Racing For Hall Of Famer Casse

Friday will be a capstone day for Mark Casse and his family when the trainer is inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., in a morning ceremony prior to the afternoon races across the street at Saratoga race course. His son Norman, who was his top assistant before going out on his own, and daughter-in-law and TVG analyst Gabby Gaudet could not be prouder.

“It's very exciting. I know this has been one of Dad's biggest goals his entire life so I'm sure he's nervous and excited and we're proud to be a part of that,” said Norm Casse.

Mark Casse was elected in 2020 but his induction ceremony, along with the rest of last year's class, had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, the 2020 and 2021 classes will be honored in a combined ceremony, which will be held in the Fasig-Tipton Sales Pavilion beginning at 10:30 a.m. ET

Mark Casse, the 13-time Sovereign Award winner as Canada's Outstanding Trainer who became a member of the Canadian Thoroughbred Hall of Fame in 2016, is only the fourth trainer to be a dual member of both Halls of Fame. He joins Horatio Luro, Lucien Laurin, and Roger Attfield.

“That's pretty good company to be in,” his son said. “Overall, this is an exciting day and it's a really cool group of people and horses being inducted. It's a very special moment.”

The 2020 class includes horses Tom Bowling and Wise Dan, jockey Darrel McHargue, and Pillars of the Turf Alice Headley Chandler, J. Keene Daingerfield, Jr., and George Widener, Jr. The 2021 class is comprised of trainers Todd Pletcher and Jack Fisher and 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah.

Norm Casse is a third-generation horseman and the grandson of the late noted horseman Norman Casse. There will likely be a fourth generation as Norm and his wife, Gabby Gaudet, will be welcoming their first child. Fittingly, the baby is due on the 2021 Breeders' Cup weekend.

“This has all been a whirlwind. There's no other word to describe it,” said Gaudet, who was a member of the NYRA broadcast team as an on-air reporter and racing analyst before moving on to a similar role with TVG. “It's been really busy for Norm and for me with all the traveling we've both been doing.”

Gaudet also has strong bloodlines in the sport. She's the daughter of trainers Linda and the late Eddie Gaudet and the sister of trainer Lacey Gaudet. Her family has been a mainstay on the Mid-Atlantic circuit for decades.

“Both of our families are very excited. We're just lucky that we have so much support behind us,” said Gabby. “Unfortunately, my family won't be able to come to the ceremony tomorrow as my Mom is stuck in Maryland and my sister is stuck in Delaware. But we will be there supporting Mark and it will be such an exciting day for him. It's such a big moment. There was so much uncertainty last year and you don't want a moment like that to fall a little flat. I'm happy they're incorporating this year and last year's inductees. This deserves to have its own moment. Luckily, we'll be here for it.”

Mark Casse will look to capture a unique double on Friday when he follows up on his induction by saddling Easy Time in the Grade 2 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in Race 7 at Saratoga.

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Trainer Lacey Gaudet Hoping To Add Another Chapter In Family’s Success Story

Carrying the mantle for one of Maryland's best known and respected racing families, trainer Lacey Gaudet has been proud to continue the tradition her late father, Eddie, began in the 1950s.

Saturday, the 33-year-old Gaudet is hoping to add another chapter to the family's legacy and join her father as a graded-stakes winner.

Gaudet will send out Five Hellions Farm's Dontletsweetfoolya in the $250,000 Runhappy Barbara Fritchie (G3) at Laurel Park, co-headliner with the $250,000 General George (G3) on a nine-race Winter Sprintfest program featuring six stakes worth $900,000 in purses. Post time is 12:25 p.m.

One of Eddie Gaudet's three career graded victories came with Star Touch in the 1991 General George, the first year it carried graded status, then Grade 2. He also won the 1985 Anne Arundel Handicap (G3) with Classy Cut and 1994 Garden State (G3) with Alleged Impression.

Overall, Eddie Gaudet won more than 1,700 races before retiring at the end of 2011, passing away at age 87 in January 2018. Two years earlier Gaudet and her mother, Linda, herself a noted horseman, owner and trainer, combined their stables into Team Gaudet with great success.

They turned John Jones, a $25,000 claim in the summer of 2018, into a multiple stakes winner and track record holder at Colonial Downs before he was retired. They broke Double Crown's maiden at Laurel in 2019 before the horse was sold and became a multiple stakes winner and twice graded-stakes placed including runner-up in the 2020 Chick Lang (G3) at Pimlico Race Course.

The new stable star is Dontletsweetfoolya, a winner of five consecutive races by 28 ¼ combined lengths, the last two wins coming in stakes – the Nov. 28 Primonetta and Dec. 26 Willa On the Move. By multiple Grade 1 winner Stay Thirsty, she will be making her season debut in the Fritchie for Gaudet, four wins shy of 200 for her young career.

“We're going into the race confident and we know that we have a nice filly, and I think that it's just going to be fun from here on out,” she said. “If she wins, great. It's not going to take anything away from her if she gets beat, but to go for six in a row and get a graded stakes under her belt? That would be fantastic.”

The connections remained patient as Dontletsweetfoolya matured from her high-strung juvenile days. She went winless in two starts at 2, and needed two more races before breaking her maiden last July. Following an allowance win at Laurel in September, Gaudet resisted the temptation to step up in a race like the Miss Preakness (G3), part of the rescheduled Preakness Day program in October.

Instead, Dontletsweetfoolya went to Pimlico anyway for an optional claiming allowance two days earlier, overcoming an eventful ship and a troubled start for a three-length triumph that earned her a shot at stakes company.

“She matured a lot as a 3-year-old from her 2-year-old season, and that showed on her form last year. So, hopefully she can start off her 4-year-old season the right way,” Gaudet said. “She's doing everything right. We stayed the course and we went through the races that we hoped to hit and we said that this was going to be our ultimate goal. We're here, she's ready and she's doing great, so it's time to test her.”

Dontletsweetfoolya drew Post 3 in a field of eight and was made the 7-2 third choice on the morning line for the Fritchie behind 8-5 favorite Hello Beautiful and Grade 3 winner Sharp Starr. Hello Beautiful, a five-time stakes winner including each of her last three starts, will break from the far outside.

Gaudet's last graded-stakes attempt came with long shot Chauncey, second by a neck at odds of 42-1 in the 2018 Charles Town Oaks (G3).

“We drew inside of a lot of the speed,” Gaudet said. “The last couple of races I've left it up to [jockey Jevian] Toledo, and she just does whatever he wants her to. So, I think I'm just going to leave it up to him.

“I know Hello Beautiful has a lot of speed. I don't think she's the only one, but I do think that we'll definitely be the pace, the two of us, and we'll see how they fare,” she added. “It takes a little bit of the pressure off, because we know where she's going to be. We're not going to change our tactics in this race.”

Gaudet and Five Hellions will have another stakes starter Saturday, Fraudulent Charge, in the $100,000 Wide Country for 3-year-old fillies. Making her season debut, she is fourth choice of nine at 6-1 behind 2-1 program favorite Street Lute, a winner of four straight stakes and five overall. Fraudulent Charge nearly ended that streak in the Dec. 26 Gin Talking, her late rally coming up a nose short.

“We always liked her, but she definitely ran huge last time. She's matured since then, she's grown since then and she's just going into this race fantastic,” Gaudet said. “I know there's speed. I don't think that she'll be speed, she's kind of a little different from [Street Lute]. [Jockey] Johan [Rosado] says that she's very push-button, so I think that he'll be able to rate her a little bit behind the speed and if she can make that run like she did last time, I think she'll be very dangerous.”

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