Just under a week before the 147th running of the Kentucky Derby, Casse, who'll be represented by the talented duo of Helium, and Soup and Sandwich, was his typical busy self, but not too busy to take a few minutes out of his hectic schedule to talk about a pair of skilled 3-year-olds, one of whom could deliver him a cherished first.

Having already won two-thirds of the U.S. Triple Crown, the 2019 Preakness with War of Will, and the 2019 Belmont with Sir Winston, the conditioner with over 3,050 career victories, a record 13 Sovereign Awards (as Canada's champion trainer), and dual Hall of Fame credentials, will look to add a Kentucky Derby triumph to his vast list of accomplishments.

“I guess the one thing that comes to mind first is that they like to win,” said Casse of his Derby twosome. “Combined, they've started six times and have five wins and a second. I look at them both and shake my head in amazement in what they've been able to accomplish in such short racing careers. I'm very, very happy with them.”

The Indianapolis native has plenty of reason to be.

Helium, a bay son of Ironicus, is a perfect three-for-three in his career. The Kentucky-bred, owned by D.J. Stable LLC, made his first two starts over the Woodbine Tapeta, including a win second time out in the Display Stakes last October.

“He kind of surprised me when he ran first time and won,” recalled Casse of the maiden special weight score on September 27 at the Toronto oval. “He ran better than expected. I thought his next race was very good at Woodbine too. We were looking forward to running him in the Grey Stakes, but obviously because of weather and then COVID, that wasn't possible.”

The original 2021 plan for Helium, a $55,000 purchase at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale, called for him to make his sophomore debut in the Grade 3 Lecomte on January 16 at Fair Grounds, but a wrenched ankle sidelined the colt temporarily. He was brought to Ocala and given about 10 days off before resuming training.

“He had a few hiccups along the way, but he trained well leading up to his first race of this year.”

That first race was the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby on March 6.

Casse considers the performance one of the most impressive he's seen over his 40-plus years in racing.

“I would say in all my time training, I've never seen a horse overcome so many different variables that said he shouldn't have won. From not running in four-and-a-half months, to first time on dirt, to first time around two turns, and his wide trip… I just never thought in a million years he could win running so wide.”

Those are just some of the reasons why he's confident of his charge's chances in the Derby.

While Helium isn't being billed as a top contender, Casse is happy to float above the radar leading up to the big race.

“A lot of people are underestimating him because they look at his Beyer from the Tampa Bay Derby. If you look at his Thoro-Graph numbers, which to me is my bible, what I go by, his number is extremely good. It's a 3. It usually takes a 1 or a ½ to win the Derby, so it's definitely within his range, especially if he improves off his last race. He's come back and trained well. He has this habit and it's that he likes to win.”

Soup and Sandwich has been as equally impressive in the lead-up to the biggest race of his career to-date.

Bred and owned by Live Oak Plantation, the Florida-bred son of Into Mischief didn't race as a 2-year-old but turned plenty of heads with a stellar runner-up showing in the Florida Derby on March 27.

The second-place performance was the third start for Soup and Sandwich, who won his debut at Gulfstream Park on January 28, and followed it up with another winner's circle trip, this time at Tampa Bay Downs on February 24.

“He was a horse that we thought a lot of as a 2-year-old,” offered Casse. “He still hasn't grown up completely. He's kind of a teenage kid. He doesn't always pay attention and has a short attention span. But he's gotten better. His first race was good, I thought his second race was excellent, and I thought his Florida Derby race was very good. In keeping with Thoro-Graph numbers, he ran a 1 ¾, which is huge. Looking at that, I think he has 65 per cent chance to run as good a race or better. It's big. It's really big. Both of these horses just have to move up a little bit to be right there in the Derby. I couldn't be happier really.”

Casse isn't the only one.

His jockeys for the big race seem to like their Derby chances as well.

“It's a funny little story. Tyler [jockey, Gaffalione], the first time he was on Soup and Sandwich – he worked him the other day – it happened that Julien [jockey, Leparoux] was helping us out, working another horse, not Helium. Pulling up, Tyler said, 'We're going to win the Kentucky Derby.' He was so excited after working the horse. Julien told him, 'Wait a second… you can be a good second.' So there's already a little smack talk going on. I think both riders are extremely excited and happy with their horses, just as I am.”

What would it mean for Casse to notch his first Derby victory?

“I may retire,” he said with a grin.

For now, it's all smiles with Casse.

It won't be long, however, until he's dialed-in on Derby day, game face and all.

The post ‘They Like To Win’: Casse Quietly Confident In Pair Of Lightly-Raced Kentucky Derby Starters appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Helium will ship to Kentucky this week, Casse said.

Out of the Thunder Gulch mare Thundering Emilia, Helium was a $55,000 purchase at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale. He is raced by D. J. Stable.

Read more at the Daily Racing Form.

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Bernardo Alvarez Calderon was not just patriarch of a large and loving family, but something of a godfather for the entire Thoroughbred racing and breeding community of Peru. Its esteem was palpable after his loss last August, aged 78, following a fall. The president of the national breeders' association described him as “a horseman par excellence, whose contribution to our breed will last forever; an example for us all, both in his knowledge and his passion.” Another leading breeder suggested the ultimate tribute lay in their own hands: “Someday, I hope, we can all arrive at his type of horse; can all do things the way Don Bernardo did them.”

Nor should that ambition be confined to his countrymen. Don Bernardo–who excelled in show jumping in his younger days, but whose goatee and spectacles ultimately gave him rather a professorial air–was also much respected in the U.S. It was here that Teneri Stable, a small satellite of his Haras La Qallana, produced no less a horse than GI Pegasus World Cup winner Mucho Gusto (Mucho Macho Man).

And now his family and friends, approaching a first spring without Don Bernardo, find themselves wondering whether the first flowers of consolation, in the garland draped over the GII Tampa Bay Derby winner last Saturday, could yet bloom into a blanket of roses on the first Saturday in May. For Helium (Ironicus), now unbeaten in three starts, traces four generations to Don Bernardo's very first American purchase, a pregnant mare named Redwing Blackbird acquired for $9,600 at Fasig-Tipton in January 1986.

Don Bernardo's family with Stella Thayer and the Tampa Bay Derby garland | Courtesy of Gabriela Alvarez Calderon

In gratefully accepting the Tampa Bay garland, on behalf of Helium's owners D.J. Stable, Don Bernardo's daughter Gabriela could not help sensing that the colt's GI Kentucky Derby candidature has a unique benediction. On the way home she rang Jon Green, manager of D.J. Stable. “I just want to let you know that my dad is looking down on us and smiling,” she said. “I really appreciate the fact that you've allowed me and my family to stay involved in this horse, because he belongs to the last group that my dad actually bred.”

She told Green that she had been holding back tears in the winner's circle. “Because she knew it was all about her father,” Green explains. “It was her father that had gone against conventional wisdom, breeding to this $5,000 stallion.”

“It was so special,” assents Gabriela. “I don't even have words for it. I was there with my brother and his children, and we just feel like we're receiving so many incredible gifts. My father was a genius with horses. When he started breeding, he came up with a [Peruvian] Triple Crown winner within four years. He breathed, dreamed, talked of nothing but horses. And such a horseman: he could get on anything and a minute later it would be like he had been riding that horse all his life. And when he planned a mating, he would already be thinking ahead to three generations on.”

Don Barnardo had a sixth sense for horses. At Keeneland November in 2006, for instance, he bought a Rahy mare for $16,000 and a daughter of Sadler's Wells for $60,000. The foals they had respectively delivered the previous year turned out to be dual Grade I winner Life At Ten (Malibu Moon) and four-time Group 1 winner Campanologist (Kingmambo). In the same ring, a couple of months previously, he had bought a Touch Gold yearling for $7,000. The following year her half-sister Ginger Punch (Awesome Again) won the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff.

Don Bernardo with Emilia's Moon, Helium's half-sister | Courtesy of Gabriela Alvarez Calderon

It tells you everything about the wholesome nature of Don Bernardo's bequest to the breed that he named Teneri for the example of Federico Tesio and his iconic champions, Nearco (Ity) and Ribot (GB). (Each donated the first two letters of his name to form the composite Te-ne-ri.) Similarly, his choice of Shawhan Place as nursery for his U.S. stock–where their supervision includes two sons of that doyen of Kentucky horsemen, Gus Koch–attested to his faith in the best principles of the old school. (How typical of this up-and-down business that the Shawhan team, derailed from the Derby trail by a setback for graduate Senor Buscador (Mineshaft), should find themselves back with a rooting interest just days later.)

As such, it's not hard to imagine what appealed to Don Bernardo about Redwing Blackbird. Her sire Bold Favorite was admittedly not one of Bold Ruler's significant sons, but represented a fine Argentinian family. More importantly, her own maternal line brought into play trademark Tesio influences and, in turn, the stud of the 17th Earl of Derby–itself so key to the Italian's work. (Redwing Blackbird's second dam was by Bold Ruler's sire Nasrullah, duly securing a 3×3 foothold to this great conduit of Nearco.)

Redwing Blackbird was carrying a Proud Appeal filly, who became the graded stakes-placed Proud Emilia. Bred to Saint Ballado a couple of times before being sent to her owner's homeland, she produced a Peruvian champion miler, Domingo, who eventually stood at Haras La Qallana; and Saint Emilia (Per), a local Grade III winner/Grade I runner-up who made the reverse migration for her own breeding career, joining the Teneri broodmare band. (This has never exceeded nine mares, compared with around 40 on the Peruvian farm.)

“She was only 440, 460 kilos but beat the colts many times,” Gabriela says. “When people at the sales said her foals were little, I would tell them that this was a family of small horses that could run big.” Four of Saint Emilia's daughters have duly become stakes producers, mostly in Peru though the most accomplished, Thundering Emilia, did transfer to the U.S. to win an 8 1/2-furlong turf stake for Michael Matz.

Helium is Thundering Emilia's fourth foal. A couple of her previous ones have already excelled: Emilia's Moon (Malibu Moon), as a Peruvian Classic winner; and graded-stakes placed Mighty Scarlett (Scat Daddy). Despite their contributions to his page, Helium was by a sire struggling for commercial traction and the $55,000 given by Cool Hill Farm at Fasig-Tipton October made him the most expensive yearling of that debut crop.

“Matt Koch at Shawhan had said that he was an incredible colt from the moment he was born,” Gabriela remembers. “We were there with Dad, at the sale, and those Ironicus babies weren't selling. So we said we would keep him if he didn't make more than $50,000. Unfortunately he did, just!”

Helium had been bought as a pinhooking project for Bo Hunt, but fell into the juvenile auction cycle that was so disrupted by the onset of the pandemic last year.

“My parents are in their 80s, it wasn't on the cards to travel down there to the sales,” Green recalls. “But we've known Bo for 15, 20 years, and knew we could trust him enough to ask: 'Out of the 70-something you have, who are your top three or four candidates?'”

Hunt came up with a shortlist, and trainer Mark Casse went over to see them gallop. He didn't take to one; they couldn't quite agree on a price for another, who turned out to be Miss Brazil (Palace Malice), an excellent second in the Busher S. last weekend; and two that D.J. Stable did buy. One of those was Helium.

Helium ran to a 4 1/4-length triumph in Woodbine's Display S. last year | Michael Burns

Though he won on debut at Woodbine in late September and then followed up in a stake over the same seven furlongs of Tapeta, things then started to conspire against the colt. Woodbine suspended first for snow; then for the pandemic. Shipped to Fair Grounds, Helium was nearing a return when he wrenched an ankle. In the circumstances, then, nobody should underestimate the talent underpinning a pretty extraordinary performance last weekend.

This was Helium's first start in nearly five months; and his first ever on dirt, or round a second turn. The idea had been that if he was going to experiment on the surface, he might as well stay local to Palm Meadows; and they could get a seasoned reading from Jose Ferrer, who actually won a race in these silks as long ago as 1987. They told him simply to keep out of the kickback, and not to punish him if the wheels were spinning. Sure enough, Helium raced wide the whole way until sweeping round the field on the far turn and grabbing the rail into the stretch. Understandably, that big move seemed to tell, and he was headed around the eighth pole. Outrageously, however, he then rallied to win going away.

Len and Jon Green | Fasig-Tipton photo

“He literally had a half a dozen excuses not to hit the wire first,” Green says. “We were asking him to do so many things that were out of his wheelhouse. But when Jose asked him, he just exploded. And then to see him put the other horse away, that's what got us really excited. We would have been very satisfied to run second, and have something to build upon. The fact that he had something left in the tank, and also had the interest to continue to run, is frankly mind-boggling.”

Training up to the Derby is obviously a bold move, but Helium has himself a gate and has shown that he excels when fresh. The other obvious reservation, to conventional thinking, will be his pedigree. We've already seen how Don Bernardo rooted this family in Classic influences, but Helium remains one of just four winners to this point by his young sire.

These, however, remain the earliest of days for a stallion certain to advance his stock with maturity; and one who simply doesn't have the numbers behind him to permit standard commercial comparisons.

Ironicus was homebred by Claiborne's longstanding client, Stuart S. Janney III, and returned to his native farm after maturing at four and five into one of the better turf runners in North America, just missing his Grade I by a head in the Shadwell Turf Mile. The son of Distorted Humor had the page, for sure: four siblings had won graded stakes (divided between turf and dirt), while his third dam is second dam of Flatter (A.P. Indy) (therefore also the family of Sea Hero, Roar, Congrats, etc).

Sadly the commercial market's puerile terror of slower-maturing/turf horses means that Ironicus covered only a couple of dozen mares last spring–but he's absolutely entitled to breed a Classic racehorse, on any surface, granted the support of breeders as far-sighted as Don Bernardo. It goes without saying that he is on the right farm for that, so perhaps Helium is about to reward those who persevered through a phase of his sire's career that was always going to require patience.

“I guess people will say it's a question mark on Helium's resume, that he's not by Tapit or Into Mischief,” Green acknowledges. “But if you look at his pedigree and race record, Ironicus checks a lot of boxes; while the female family brings in very respected broodmare sires.”

Mighty Scarlett | Sarah Andrew

D.J. Stable has duly doubled down on those genes. Helium's half-sister Mighty Scarlett, now a 6-year-old, was acquired for $240,000 at the Keeneland November Sale and sent to Uncle Mo, while a foal-sharing agreement has been negotiated on Helium's dam Thundering Emilia, with an American Pharoah covering. (Teneri, by the way, offered the dam of Mucho Gusto at the same November Sale but retained her at $500,000. She has since delivered a Medaglia d'Oro filly at Shawhan, and was this week covered by Uncle Mo.)

“My dad has an accounting firm that has 750-something Thoroughbred-related clients, so we're able to drill down on a lot of questions with people that have even more experience than we do,” Green says. “And this is something I noticed that Darby Dan would do, years ago, and Claiborne: collect family members when they felt like they had a good runner. That way, a positive change in a family would appear on three or four or five different assets. We've tried to replicate that.”

Whatever Helium can still do for the pedigree, the one guarantee is that the whole team will enjoy the ride.

“My dad said to me this morning: 'There are only a couple of things that got me more excited than this race–and those were meeting your mother, and when your sisters were born!'” says Green with a chuckle. “So yeah, this is a highlight in our 40 years in the business. We've been very fortunate: we've won a Breeders' Cup, we campaigned a champion, bred a champion. Years ago we even ran a horse in the Kentucky Derby, Songandaprayer [Unbridled's Song]. So we've had a great run in this wonderful business. But this is the first time I can remember having a horse that just checks all the boxes.”

One of those, of course, is a Hall of Fame trainer–something that heightens confidence in the unorthodoxy of the strategy now. Green knew not to expect big speed figures out of Saturday: the performance was all about context, and the eyeball test. “I honestly don't know if he's good enough to beat Life Is Good [Into Mischief] or those other top horses,” he says. “But I know that we're giving him the best chance possible.”

And it's not just his own family's long commitment to the game that could be consummated here. Another lifetime of study, patience and skill is dovetailing with their own cause. The Greens are delighted, then, to be sharing with his family this posthumous flourish from Don Bernardo.

“Gabriela is such a wonderful, kind individual,” Green says. “She's modest and humble, and just feels that this horse is carrying the banner for her late father, and for his family's love for him. So we just feel like everything's falling into place. It's a tremendous gift that we have, with this horse. So yes, maybe there are some racing gods smiling on us.”

“I really feel that with all these incredible things happening, it's one of those things in life that makes sense,” Gabriela says. “I feel Dad knows; I feel he's close to us. I know the passion he had, all his life, and this is the reward for that dedication.”

The post The Parting Gift of Don Bernardo appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Green announced the news on the TDN Writers' Room podcast Wednesday.

“I'm pleased to make the formal announcement on our podcast that I sat down with the owners, my parents and Mark Casse, who between them have a collective 80 years of experience in the horse industry,” said Green. “We're going to go an unconventional route and bypass the rest of the Kentucky Derby preps and train him in Florida at Palm Meadows, and then ship him to Churchill Downs three weeks before.”

Green admitted that it was an unconditional route to the race, but said, “It's not unreasonable in history to give a horse eight weeks off and ask him to run in a big race like this. Is it perfect? It's not perfect. Are there risks? Yes. But we feel what's best for the horse is to give him the time and slowly peak him into the Kentucky Derby, which is our primary goal.”

Green said that unlike other horses looking to peak in May, that DJ Stables hoped to race the horse after the Derby and throughout the summer with a focus on the Haskell at Monmouth, which is held near their home in Monmouth County, New Jersey.

“Our goal is not to run him in the Blue Grass, or a race like that because we think he doesn't need it,” said Green. “Running in a prep, so many things could go wrong, and our main goal is to run him in the Derby and then the races afterwards. We're looking at it through a different prism.”

While Jose Ferrer won the Tampa Bay Derby aboard Helium, Green also said that the Derby riding assignment was currently up in the air.

“Jose did a great job on him and won the Tampa Bay Derby on him, but we are looking for other options with jockeys,” said Green. “For the same reason riding Jose at Tampa Bay made sense, you have to have somebody who has the experience in big races and the experience at Churchill Downs. That's no disrespect to Jose, but I would think we would need to explore other opportunities.”

The complete discussion on Helium will be available on the TDN Writers' Room podcast which will be posted tonight.

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Perfect in two starts going seven furlongs over the Woodbine synthetic last year, including a 4 1/4-length success in the Display S. when last seen Oct. 18, the $55,000 Fasig-Tipton October yearling graduate's worktab included a bullet five furlongs in 1:00 2/5 (1/8) at Palm Meadows Feb. 3.

Helium was slow into stride from a wide gate and was left no choice but to take the first turn in about the six path while racing with just two rivals behind. Five or six paths off the inside down the backstretch, Helium went for an early run with about a half-mile to run, but continued to be trapped off the track, as favored GIII Sam F. Davis S. winner Candy Man Rocket (Candy Ride {Arg}) was moving simultaneously underneath him.

Consigned to a five-deep trip around the second turn, Helium nevertheless gained steadily on the leaders, was shifted down to the inside when making the lead in upper stretch and managed to hold sway late.

Hidden Stash, a closing third to Candy Man Rocket in the Sam F. Davis, looked to have Helium at his mercy at the sixteenth pole, but was swatted away late and settled for second.

Candy Man Rocket was out of gas by the top of the stretch and tired to 11th.

“Our biggest concern going into the race was not only the competition, but also the distance, because he had never gone further than seven furlongs,” said DJ Stables Racing Manager Jon Green. “We were also concerned about the surface, because he had only run on the Tapeta at Woodbine. So we felt like he had three things he had to accomplish today–not only to beat the top horses in the race, but also overcome the two turns, the surface, and the layoff. So for him to accomplish what he did today by holding off a very nice horse in Hidden Stash, made us very excited for his future.”

Green added, “As of now, we're unsure as to his next start. We're going to analyze where the competition is going and decide what would be his best spot.”

Helium is not currently nominated to the Triple Crown, but will be supplemented for $6,000 at the next deadline at the end of March, said Green. “He has certainly punched his ticket.”

Helium was purchased privately last March as a 2-year-old from Bo Hunt. “The horse industry certainly works in mysterious ways,” said Green. “If it weren't for COVID, we never would have been able to buy this horse. We bought him privately because we weren't sure what was going to happen with the sales.”

Green said, “I really want to give Mark Casse tremendous credit for being able to be flexible with this horse and pivoting as many times as we did with him before landing on the Tampa Bay Derby in his 3-year-old debut.”

Casse said, “He trained well enough that we thought he deserved a chance. Again, I have to give so much credit to Nick Tomlinson who had him down at Palm Meadows for us. We had thought about running in the Gotham and thought, if we're going to try the dirt, let's run him close to home. It worked well for us.

Casse continued, “This horse is something because he got away a little slow today and we had planned on him being closer. He made that big wide run, he made the lead but [after Hidden Stash rallied] I was going to be happy with second. I thought, we can build on this, because this is only his third start and there is a lot of room for improvement. What was amazing is that he wasn't overly exhausted after the race. He's a beautiful horse, he's bred to run all day long and he looks like a Derby horse, so it's exciting.”

Winning rider Jose Ferrer added, “On the backside, I had all kind of horse under me, and when I set him down at the three-eighths pole, I could see I had a chance. I just had so much horse and he flew down the lane. Then I think he got by himself and kind of got bored and he thought, game over. But I still had plemty of horse and be re-broke again.”

Pedigree Notes:

Helium hails from the first crop of Ironicus. He became the first stakes winner for the young Claiborne sire after securing last term's Display and is also his first graded winner. This is the 46th graded winner for Thunder Gulch as a broodmare sire.

Thundering Emilia, a $15,000 KEESEP yearling graduate, carried Teneri Farms' colors to a win in Delaware's John W. Rooney Memorial S. She was also a GSW & G1SP in Peru.

Progeny in the pipeline for Thundering Emilia include the 2-year-old colt Thunder Stride (Classic Empire) and a yearling colt by Accelerate. She was bred to American Pharoah for 2021.

Winning owner DJ Stable bought Helium's 6-year-old GSP half-sister Mighty Scarlett (Scat Daddy) for $240,000 at the 2020 KEENOV Sale.

This is the family of Peruvian champions Valiant Emilia (Per) and Domingo.

Saturday, Tampa Bay Downs
LAMBHOLM SOUTH TAMPA BAY DERBY-GII, $350,000, Tampa Bay Downs, 3-6, 3yo, 1 1/16m, 1:43.55, ft.
1–HELIUM, 117, c, 3, by Ironicus
1st Dam: Thundering Emilia (GSW & G1SP-Per,
SW-USA, $140,963), by Thunder Gulch
2nd Dam: Saint Emilia (Per), by Saint Ballado
3rd Dam: Proud Emilia, by Proud Appeal
1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($55,000 Ylg '19 FTKOCT). O-D. J.
Stable LLC; B-Teneri Farm Inc & Bernardo Alvarez Calderon
(KY); T-Mark E. Casse; J-Jose C. Ferrer. $210,000. Lifetime
Record: 3-3-0-0, $287,763. *1/2 to Mighty Scarlett (Scat
Daddy), GSP, $225,860; Emilia's Moon (Malibu Moon),
G1SW-Per. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Hidden Stash, 117, c, 3, Constitution–Making Mark Money,
by Smart Strike. ($50,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-BBN Racing, LLC;
B-Rhineshire Farm LLC (KY); T-Victoria H. Oliver. $70,000.
3–Moonlite Strike, 117, c, 3, Liam's Map–Twinkling, by War
Chant. ($45,000 RNA Wlg '18 KEENOV; $120,000 Ylg '19
KEESEP; $145,000 RNA 2yo '20 OBSMAR; $77,000 RNA 2yo '20
OBSOPN). O-Sonata Stable; B-Brushy Hill, LLC (KY); T-Saffie A.
Joseph, Jr. $35,000.
Margins: 3/4, 3 3/4, 2HF. Odds: 15.40, 3.10, 34.60.
Also Ran: Unbridled Honor, King of Dreams, Awesome Gerry, Sittin On Go, Boca Boy, My Liberty, Super Strong, Candy Man Rocket, Promise Keeper.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

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Trained by Mark Casse and ridden by Jose Ferrer, Helium ran 1 1/16 miles on a fast track in 1:43.55 and paid $32.80 as a 15-1 longshot. Hidden Stash, who ranged up to challenge the winner in mid-stretch, finished second as the 3-1 second choice, with another longshot, 34-1 Moonlite Strike third, Unbridled Honor finished fourth, with King of Dreams fifth. Candy Man Rocket, the  8-5 favorite coming off a victory in the G3 Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs, was never a factor.

The Tampa Bay Derby offered 85 qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby with 50-20-10-5 to the top four finishers.

From the first crop of Ironicus, a top-class turf performer by Distorted Humor, Helium won his first two starts on the Tapeta synthetic surface at Woodbine, including a 4 1/4-length victory in the Display Stakes in his most recent start on Oct. 18.

Boca Boy reprised his role from the Sam F. Davis, setting the pace through fractions of :23.23, :47.06 and 1:11.38 for the first six furlongs. King of Dreams and Moonlite Strike were in closest pursuit, with Helium kept to the far outside in the run down the backstretch, with Hidden Stash just behind him.

Approaching the far turn, Ferrer put Helium in a four-wide drive and had the lead entering the stretch. Hidden Stash rallied alongside Helium, possibly putting his nose in front just inside the eighth pole, but Helium fought back and gradually edged clear approaching the wire.

“I'm just so happy to ride my first Tampa Bay Derby,” said Ferrer. “I always wanted to ride this race. Mark Casse gave me a great opportunity to go out there and do my job and do my thing. On the backside, I had all kind of horse under me, and I could see who had more horse and when I set him down at the three-eighths pole, I could see I had a chance. I just had so much horse and he flew down the lane. Then I think he got by himself and kind of got bored and he thought, game over. But I still had plemty of horse and be re-broke again.”

“He trained well enough that we thought he deserved a chance,” Casse said. “Again, I have to give so much credit to Nick Tomlinson who had him down at Palm Meadows for us. We had thought about running in the Gotham and thought, if we're going to try the dirt, let's run him close to home. It worked well for us.

“This horse is something because he got away a little slow today and we had planned on him being closer,” Casse added. “He made that big wide run, he made the lead but (after Hidden Stash rallied) I was going to be happy with second. I thought, we can build on this, because this is only his third start and there is a lot of room for improvement. What was amazing is that he wasn't overly exhausted after the race. He's a beautiful horse, he's bred to run all day long and he looks like a Derby horse, so it's exciting.”

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UPSTART (Flatter–Party Silks, by Touch Gold) was cleverly named and I think him a very plausible type, likely to rise pretty quickly through the ranks. Certainly there were more than enough “nouveaux riches” among his first juveniles–only Not This Time exceeded his 19 winners (from 54 starters)–for him to be pegged at $10,000 by Airdrie. His principal earner was Reinvestment Risk, who twice chased home speedball Jackie’s Warrior (Maclean’s Music) in Grade Is after romping on debut at Saratoga, but a measure of what may be coming down the tracks was the 12-length debut success of Manor House at Laurel just before Christmas.

Remember Upstart himself was multiple Grade I-placed at two, three and four, so expect him to keep consolidating from an opening book of 146 and in the process to ride out a dip in numbers since to 86 and then just 38. Very auspiciously, his first yearlings (whose $63,608 average exceeded six times his fee) prompted renewed traffic last spring to 90 mares. And actually his second crop maintained value and demand far better than most, 41 of 47 selling for another very fertile yield, relatively speaking, at $45,159. In the meantime he had also excelled in a challenging 2-year-old market, his $104,400 average giving him virtual parity with a far more expensive pair in Nyquist and Frosted.

There’s no mistaking professional enthusiasm for Upstart’s stock, physically. But the key is that the speed shown by his earlier types is just a foundation; they’re bred and built to stretch, too. I can’t imagine that Flatter has had another juvenile clock a triple-digit Beyer, and there’s a really wholesome depth and balance to his pedigree.

His dam, a half-sister to a Grade II winner, is by Touch Gold–who combines distaff legends Deputy Minister and Buckpasser. This just looks so good opposite the Secretariat-Buckpasser combination behind Weekend Surprise, mother of Flatter’s sire A.P. Indy.

Speightster | PM Photos

One at the same fee who did even better in terms of holding the value of his second crop was SPEIGHTSTER (Speightstown–Dance Swiftly, by Danzig), no mean achievement given the sheer volume he had generated at WinStar.

Having opened up with a $63,680 dividend, virtually identical with Upstart, for 71 yearlings sold from no fewer than 97 offered in his first crop, Speightster managed $59,153 for 43 of 58 offered this time round. That was sufficient to secure fifth in the averages, and represents a quite remarkable vote of confidence after a solid 15 winners from 63 starters. A couple of those scored at black-type level, though perhaps nothing Speightster has done so far quite equalled the splash of his $1.1 million son at OBS in the summer.

His profile contrasts sharply with that of Upstart, having blitzed his first three (sophomore maiden/allowance/GIII Dwyer) before derailing on only his fourth start. That may or may not have been the tip of an iceberg, but the pedigree could hardly have been more auspicious. What a frisson, nowadays, just to see a dam by Danzig–never mind one who is sister to Dance Smartly and half-sister to Smart Strike. This is obviously one of the great Canadian dynasties, while a physical resemblance to his farm’s venerable patriarch can only aid Speightster’s cause in contesting the succession. He has relentless numbers behind him, too, having opened with books of 174, 150, 124 and 152, so one way or another there’s a lot of belief out there.

Air Force Blue | Coolmore

His buoyancy offers a curious contrast with another who prizes Danzig in the second generation. The first juveniles of AIR FORCE BLUE (War Front–Chatham, by Maria’s Mon) performed to a very similar level–in fact more winners from fewer runners (17 from 46), albeit just couldn’t crack a stakes win–but who suffered quite a slide in the value of his second crop of yearlings: his 34 sales (of 50) this time round realizing $46,145, down from the $98,230 (albeit for only 44 sold of 73 into the ring) on his sales debut.

One obvious difference is that Ashford started him at $25,000, but he has taken repeated trims and is now down to $10,000. Another is that Air Force Blue failed to go on after a sensational juvenile career, so we’ll now be looking for him to draw on his pedigree to keep his stock progressing with maturity. That’s certainly possible: his second dam is full-sister to Flanders (Seeking the Gold), a champion herself and dam of another in Surfside (Seattle Slew), while copper-bottomed influences seed his entire family tree. But you suspect the biggest hesitation has been a reputation made on turf, such a culpable prejudice in the commercial market.

In fact nine of his 17 winners scored on dirt, and this horse deserves a fresh chance at such a friendly fee. He was a genuinely top-class juvenile for Ballydoyle and it looks a really positive sign that the conveyor belt picked up again last spring when opening books of 153, 106 and 90 were followed by one of 135.

Exaggerator | Sarah Andrew

Nobody threw numbers at the track in the same volume as EXAGGERATOR (Curlin–Dawn Raid, by Vindication), so 14 winners from as many as 69 starters has to go down as pretty tepid. As many as five, however, managed a stakes podium. Having launched at WinStar off $30,000, he housed 63 of 103 yearlings in his first crop for $85,746 but it proved tough going for his 76 into the ring this time, 56 processed at just $25,982. He has taken a third consecutive cut, to $15,000, but will maintain the numbers after a fourth book of 104, having opened with 162, 163 and 129.

If this is the kind of industrial process that makes some of us uncomfortable, then Exaggerator did at least demonstrate some old-school wares in banking $3.6 million through 15 starts in 16 months, actually bookending his career in the same races as Nyquist. The pair also exchanged verdicts in the Derby and Preakness, one of three Grade I prizes won by an admirable racehorse of good Canadian family. You’d expect Exaggerator’s stock to keep thriving, then, as and when finding their stride.

The same farm launched TOURIST (Tiznow–Unbridled Melody, by Unbridled’s Song) at $12,500 but has had to make repeated cuts, now to $5,000, after failing to find any commercial traction with his first two crops: the first realized $27,996 for 41 sales (of 58 offered) and this time round he was down to $14,533 for 16 of 23. With his books dwindling–134, 102, 70 and 60–he needs his stock to stick to the program, having himself improved relentlessly through four campaigns until ultimately shocking Tepin (Bernstein) in the GI Breeders’ Cup Mile in a race-record 1:31.71. He laid a feasible base with 13 winners from 43 starters, and the market’s distaste for turf meant that he would always be a longer-term project.

Flintshire | Louise Reinagel

Speaking of grass, you can only despair that a horse as accomplished as FLINTSHIRE (GB) (Dansili {GB}–Dance Routine {GB}, by Sadler’s Wells) should struggle for patronage in Kentucky. Hill ‘n’ Dale at Xalapa now offers him at $10,000, half his opening fee, after his fourth book sank to just 38. Nobody could be surprised, given his own template, that he mustered only half a dozen winners from his first 36 juveniles. But the fact is that anyone far-sighted enough to support him now will be able to ride the wave as his strong early support from an ownership group including Juddmonte plays out (opened with 121, 89 and 69) in his maturing stock.

It’s tiresome to hear people talk so reverently about expanding turf opportunities, or the importance of soundness, when they don’t seem to respect even this nugget from the Juddmonte program: by one of the best-bred stallions in Europe out of a Classic-placed mare, he became its richest-ever graduate as a five-time Grade/Group I winner of $9.5 million (also dual Arc runner-up) whose turn of foot was measured at :44.56 for his closing half-mile in the GI Manhattan. His first crop of yearlings had fared reasonably well, clearing as many as 45 of 52 at $46,686, but 14 of 25 this time round scraped together a yield of $19,552. But you reap what you sow and if this industry can only make fast, precocious dirt horses pay, it will someday learn to regret it.

Mshawish | Taylor Made

Turf is only one of the strings to the bow of MSHAWISH (Medaglia d’Oro–Thunder Bayou, by Thunder Gulch), fourth of 19 in the G1 Prix du Jockey Club before being imported to win Grade Is, on both surfaces, at five and six. He has taken another cut at Taylor Made, now down to $7,500 from an opening $20,000, despite mustering a solid 13 winners from 42 starters.

That reflects the usual dwindling books (just 40 mares last spring, down from 117, 73 and 68) and a dip by his second crop of yearlings to an average $16,515, for 14 of 19 sold, down from $39,338 for 42 sales from 56 first time round. But he remains a very wholesome option with his seven consecutive triple-digit Beyers and average earnings of $100,000 per start through 24 races. His versatility is not just down to his sire, with a dam inbred 3×3 to Storm Bird; while his granddam is a half-sister to the mother of champion Halfbridled (Unbridled). As a longer play, still every chance.

The Albaugh Family team, which brought us Not This Time, offers a value alternative by the same sire in BRODY’S CAUSE (Giant’s Causeway–Sweet Breanna, by Sahm) at Spendthrift. He made quite an impression with his first juveniles: only half a dozen winners (from 29 starters) but they were good ones: two won at stakes level and four made the podium in graded stakes, notably GIII Iroquois S. winner Sittin On Go and GI Starlet S. runner-up Kalypso, who has since won the GII Santa Ynez S. on the third day of her sophomore career.

Like Not This Time, he extends a regal bottom line: his fourth dam, indeed, is by Dr. Fager out of a Bold Ruler half-sister to Secretariat’s dam Somethingroyal. His second dam was Grade I-placed and Brody’s Cause himself won Grade I races at two and three and, while he didn’t last the course, had established himself among the best of his generation and looks a bet to nothing now that he is down to $5,000 from an opening $12,500. He does have some weight of numbers, too, with initial books of 101 and 110 before dipping to 63 and 49. After a promising debut at the sales (33 sold of 51 yearlings at $50,166), he was another to struggle with his second crop (27 sold of 34 at $25,596) but he is definitely, definitely still in the game–and a viable sanctuary for those priced out of Not This Time.

Hit It a Bomb | Spendthrift

On the same farm, HIT IT A BOMB (War Front–Liscanna {Ire}, by Sadler’s Wells) has given himself a squeak at the same fee–not just with GII Best Pal winner Weston among his handful of winners, but also with a startling $330,000 colt at Fasig-Tipton in September. That boosted his second-crop average to $47,916 for a dozen sold of 15, but even a $23,500 median was solid after 15 in his first crop averaged $30,153 (median $13,000).

These are hardly the industrial numbers familiar on this farm but actually he rallied to 47 mares last spring from a third book of just 20, after opening with 48 and 49. It’s all chlorophyll, obviously, but the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner is brother to another juvenile Group 1 scorer from a classy family.

Another down to the bottom tier at Spendthrift is CINCO CHARLIE (Indian Charlie–Ten Halos, by Marquetry), though he managed no fewer than 14 winners from just 31 starters, including one at stakes level. He also made quite a stir with a $200,000 filly at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Old Sale, albeit seven second-crop yearlings (from 10 into the ring) realized just $6,600 down from $20,944 (for 19 of 26) first time round. Cinco Charlie did match his precocity (GIII Bashford Manor S. second time out) with hardiness, racking up seven black-type wins in 18 starts, so don’t rule out farther progress; while his second dam is by none other than Halo.

We know to expect interesting stallions at Crestwood and TEXAS RED (Afleet Alex–Ramatuelle {Chi}, by Jeune Homme), rather wonderfully, has earned a hike in fee to $10,000 from $7,500 after pulling GII Sorrento S. winner My Girl Red out of his hat. She was among eight scorers from just 19 starters.

Texas Red will have to ride out a couple of quieter years but opening books of 81 and 67 give scope for consolidation and he was, after all, a brilliant runner. His 104 Beyer romping at the Breeders’ Cup was backed up in an interrupted sophomore campaign, beating Frosted in the GII Jim Dandy besides running a top-class sprinter in Lord Nelson (Pulpit) to a neck over seven furlongs. A classy South American family also makes him a very accommodating outcross.

Firing Line | Crestwood

Studmate FIRING LINE (Line of David–Sister Girl Blues, by Hold for Gold) works from a narrow base but had four winners from his 13 starters. He had sold 20 of 21 yearlings in his first crop, including a colt and filly that each made six figures, while one of his daughters soared to $210,000 at OBS in June. If things were quieter for his yearlings this time round, Firing Line retains plenty of interest on performance, denied a Grade I at two only by a nose and the Derby itself only by a Triple Crown winner; and also on pedigree, his dam a Grade I-placed sibling to the mothers of two Grade I-winning milers, their line extending to matriarchs Kamar (Key to the Mint) and Square Angel (Quadrangle).

Another to give striking encouragement from a small base is TAMARKUZ (Speightstown–Without You Babe, by Lemon Drop Kid) at Shadwell. From just 14 runners, he had five winners including GIII Bob Hope S. winner Red Flag and, though lacking numbers (third book was highest at 57), might merit a roll of the dice at $7,500 from an opening $12,500.

Having bowed out beating the next two winners of the Breeders’ Cup Classic in the GI Dirt Mile, Tamarkuz is out of a half-sister to two GI Belmont S. runners-up who has also produced a Group 1 miler in Without Parole (GB) (Frankel {GB}). You have to love a second dam by Storm Bird opposite his son Storm Cat as Speightstown’s damsire, and the maternal line tapers to some resonant names.

Wins from two to six suggest that his stock will keep flying the flag with maturity; and he also showed versatility in terms of surface. Though his first yearlings excelled, moving on 18 of 20 yearlings at $68,222, a handful of his second crop made no money to speak of. But one of only four hips at the 2-year-old sales made $160,000, and Tamarkuz should definitely interest anyone out there who might want to breed an actual racehorse for a small fee.

Beating Tamarkuz for the GII Kelso H. in 1:32.9 is the poster achievement for ANCHOR DOWN (Tapit–Successful Outlook, by Orientate), now $5,000 from an opening $10,000 at Gainesway. Eight winners from 18 runners was a very good start, given his small books, and he’s a half-brother to GI Test S. winner Sweet Lulu (Mr. Greeley). His sale yields are pretty standard for this level, but it should be noted that his clearance rate for both crops of yearlings were extremely high and he also went down well at the 2-year-old sales, with a $270,000 colt and $200,000 filly. Competition is obviously tough among heirs to the farm’s champion but less so at this level.

There are a handful of others in this intake whose numbers are too precarious to repay much dredging. But the likes of BIG BLUE KITTEN (Kitten’s Joy–Spent Gold, by Unaccounted For) and PRODUCER (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}–River Saint, by Irish River {Fr}) at Calumet, or V. E. DAY (English Channel–California Sunset, by Deputy Minister) at Buck Pond Farm, were always going to be longer-term projects and so remain entitled to repay perseverance.

And we should highlight a conspicuous achievement apiece by three who share the same, great damsire: $2,500 cover OPTIMIZER (English Channel–Indy Pick, by A.P. Indy) at Calumet, for pulling a $190,000 filly out of his hat at Keeneland in September; IRONICUS (Distorted Humor–Meghan’s Joy, by A.P. Indy) for coming up with an unbeaten stakes winner from his small footprint from Claiborne at $5,000; and PROTONICO (Giant’s Causeway–Alpha Spirit, by A.P. Indy), at the same fee, for a potentially game-changing start to 2021.

A rootless start to his stud career can hardly have helped his cause. Yet his three winners from eight starters include Medina Spirit, a $1,000 yearling who closed to within a length of the Derby favorite in the GIII Sham S. Protonico’s second dam is Chilean Horse of the Year and Grade I winner Wild Spirit (Chi) (Hussonet), and a half-length miss in the GI Clark H. left him cents short of millionaire status. Medina Spirit is the kind of flagship that would be trumpeted from the rooftops by farms who throw 200 mares at rookie stallions, so to come up with this dude from an opening book of 34 entitles Castleton Lyons to hope that he could yet claw his way from the back lanes to the highway.

That’s the kind of frayed highwire all these horses are walking now. And while many will lose their footing, the great thing is that some of them are suddenly going to break into a run.

CHRIS McGRATH’S VALUE PODIUM
Gold: Frosted ($25,000, Darley)
   A champion at the right distance, out of a Deputy Minister mare, and no less likely to succeed now than when he was $50,000.
Silver: Upstart ($10,000, Airdrie)
   His record and pedigree guarantee that a fine start by his juveniles is only the beginning.
Bronze: Speightster ($10,000, WinStar)
   A lot of people seem adamant that he’s about to take off.

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D J Stable’s Helium (Ironicus) debuted an impressive 3 1/4-length victor going seven furlongs on the local Tapeta Sept. 27 and validated that try with a 4 1/4-length score as the favorite in the Display S. here Oct. 18. The other half of the Casse contingent is Breeze Easy’s Easy Time (Not This Time). Backed to 7-5 in his unveiling over seven main-track panels Oct. 25, the $250,000 OBS July buy obliged his supporters with a 2 3/4-length graduation.

Haddassah (Air Force Blue) was also a poorly-kept secret on debut in an off-the-turfer Nov. 1, sent away at a nickel below 2-1 in an 11-horse group, and rallied from seventh to prevail by a half-length over a pacesetter who was a half-dozen clear of the remainder.

Stephen (Constitution), victor of the Coronation Futurity S. here Nov. 1, and Barrister Tom (Artie Schiller), a 44-1 upsetter of the More Than Ready Juvenile S. Sept. 7 at Kentucky Downs, round out the top contenders.

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The $100,000 Display, contested at seven furlongs this year after being raced over 1 1/16 miles since 1994, went with a field of seven 2-year-olds.

Helium was the meet-leading 13th stakes winner for trainer Mark Casse, who also took Saturday's Glorious Song among his eight overall wins on the weekend programs.

“He's a pro, this horse is like an old soul,” said Wilson.” First time he ran, we wanted to just get his legs and come running. He was up near the point and when I asked him to quicken, he quickened.

“So today, I was pretty confident. They set some decent fractions in front of him and he wasn't fazed. Even the horse on the outside moved up and he was like 'Oh, can I go now?' I said 'No, we'll just wait.'

“And sure enough, when I pulled the trigger — you've heard this said time and time again when you're standing in this winner's enclosure … when you pull the trigger and they go, they're good horses. Well, that's what got me here today.”

Maclean's Posse, also coming off an impressive first-out score and the strong 8-5 second favorite, moved sharply to the lead but was headed by Souper Classy through an opening quarter of :23.64.

That margin was reversed as MacLean's Posse caught the half in :46.40, with Gospel Way right there in third place.

Wilson, meanwhile, was biding her time in fourth place, but when she popped the question heading around the final turn, Helium was up to the task and had assumed total command when clocking the six furlongs in 1:10.27.

Gospel Way raced gamely to garner second money, a neck to the good of Decimator, the longest shot in the field at 56-1, who in turn had four lengths on fourth-place Exceed. Both Decimator and the 18-1 chance Exceed are trained by Ashlee Brnjas.

A faltering MacLean's Posse, Knight Kingdom and Souper Classy completed the order of finish as Helium crossed the wire in 1:22.62.

Rocket Reload, who entered in both the Display and the previous day's Glorious Song, opted for the latter race, finishing fifth behind the Casse-conditioned Souper Sensational.

Helium, who races for the D.J. Stable LLC of Len and Jon Green, is a Kentucky-bred colt from the first crop of foals by the Claiborne Farm stallion Ironicus and the Thunder Gulch mare Thundering Emilia.

“It really makes a difference when you have horses that have that sort of competence of what's going on,” said Wilson. “You know that means they're going to develop into something really decent because they've got the fortitude, they've got the brain.

“We talked about all the horses that we have, you know there's different ability levels and different competency levels and trainers are trying to balance that and make it work. But when you've got a horse that has the ability and the competency, they win stakes and they go on to do great things.”

The $55,000 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky yearling purchase returned $4.80, $2.80 and $2.80 and keyed a 6-7 exactor with Gospel Way ($4.40, $3.60) of $22.60. Decimator ($10.10) completed the 6-7-2 trifecta of $132.10. Decimator rounded out the 6-7-2-1 superfecta worth $578.20 for $1.

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For the racing week at Woodbine, Casse sent out one winner each on Thursday and Friday; five on Saturday including dominant ‘TDN Rising Star’ Souper Sensational (Curlin) in the filly equivalent of the Display, the Glorious Song S.; and three on Sunday. He now boasts more than triple as many wins as the next trainer in the Woodbine meet standings.

“He’s a pro, this horse is like an old soul,” said pilot Emma-Jayne Wilson, who was celebrating a three-win day of her own that also included a victory in the GI Northern Dancer Turf S. “First time he ran, we wanted to just get his legs and come running. He was up near the point and when I asked him to quicken, he quickened… So today, I was pretty confident. They set some decent fractions in front of him and he wasn’t fazed. Even the horse on the outside moved up and he was like ‘Oh, can I go now?’ I said ‘No, we’ll just wait.’… And sure enough, when I pulled the trigger–you’ve heard this said time and time again when you’re standing in this winner’s enclosure…when you pull the trigger and they go, they’re good horses. Well, that’s what got me here today.”

Helium’s dam produced a Classic Empire maker colt in 2019 and an Accelerate colt this term before being bred back to American Pharoah. Sire Ironicus, now a Claiborne resident, blossomed at ages four and five, annexing a trio of graded races on the grass for Shug McGaughey and Stuart Janney III before just missing in the 2016 GI Shadwell Turf Mile S.

DISPLAY S., C$101,600, Woodbine, 10-18, 2yo, 7f (AWT), 1:22.62, ft.
1–HELIUM, 120, c, 2, by Ironicus
                1st Dam: Thundering Emilia, by Thunder Gulch
                2nd Dam: Saint Emilia (Per), by Saint Ballado
                3rd Dam: Proud Emilia, by Proud Appeal
($55,000 Ylg ’19 FTKOCT). 1ST BLACK TYPE WIN. O-D. J. Stable
LLC; B-Teneri Farm Inc & Bernardo Alvarez Calderon (KY);
T-Mark E. Casse; J-Emma-Jayne Wilson. C$60,000. Lifetime
Record: 2-2-0-0, $77,763. *1/2 to Mighty Scarlett (Scat
Daddy), GSP, $225,860; Emilia’s Moon (Malibu Moon),
G1SW-Per.
2–Gospel Way, 120, g, 2, Brody’s Cause–Bible Belt, by Pulpit.
O-William B. Thompson, Jr.; B-William B. Thompson (VA);
T-Nathan Squires. C$20,000.
3–Decimator, 118, g, 2, The Big Beast–Ragtime Road, by
Dixieland Band. ($40,000 Ylg ’19 OBSOCT). O-Colebrook Farms;
B-Jimmie Ballinger (FL); T-Ashlee Brnjas. C$11,000.
Margins: 4 1/4, NK, 4. Odds: 1.40, 5.35, 56.85.
Also Ran: Exceed, Maclean’s Posse, Knight Kingdom, Souper Classy. Scratched: Rocket Reload. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

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