Mark Casse | Horse Racing Free Tips

Master Spy Leads All The Way In Cup And Saucer At Woodbine

Master Spy seized the lead in the 84th running of the $250,000 Cup and Saucer Stakes and never looked back to secure his first stakes triumph on Saturday afternoon at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario.

The popular Mark Casse trainee led the field of nine gate-to-wire over the E.P. Taylor Turf Course in the 1 1/16-mile feature showcasing Canadian-bred 2-year-olds.

Jockey Patrick Husbands put Master Spy on top, warding off early inside pressure from second choice Credit River and setting fractions of :24 to the quarter, :48.11 to the half-mile mark and 1:12.71 to three-quarters over firm turf. Turning for home, Master Spy kept clear as Threefiftyseven launched an all-out charge in second and opened up 3 1/4 lengths down the stretch to score in 1:42.67. Giant Waters edged out Beyond My Dreams for third.

“The riders saw the first two races run on the turf today that the winners came from behind so I was telling myself, I hope the [other] riders stick with that plan and I can get an easy lead,” said Husbands after his astute front-end strategy landed him and the rising star in the winner's circle.

“It's amazing to see that every time I leave the gate, he was relaxed. He was never rank at all. It showed me that if anybody won't leave today, I didn't mind.”

Fresh off a maiden-breaking victory last month over one mile when making his E.P. Taylor turf debut, Master Spy was sent postward as the 5-2 bettors' choice here and paid $7.30 to win.

Now two-for-four in his career, the dark bay colt, who was a runner-up in the Victoria Stakes on August 2, earned his first added-money score for owner Tracy Farmer.

Bred in Ontario by Bernard and Karen McCormack, the Silent Name–Smart Catomine colt was a $72,000 yearling sale purchase from the 2019 Keeneland September sale and now boasts more than $235,000 in purse earnings. He is a half-brother to 2017 Prince of Wales Stakes champion Cool Catomine and Wild Catomine, who defeated 2014 Horse of the Year Lexie Lou in the Fury Stakes.

Husbands has won the Cup and Saucer a record six times and Casse has campaigned five winners in the event. They have joined forces for three of their wins including victories with Star Contender in 2012 and Conquest Enforcer in 2015.

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Got Stormy Digs Deep, Flies Late To Win Franklin County Stakes

Gary Barber's Grade 1-winning mare Got Stormy made a giant late run in Friday afternoon's Grade 3 Franklin County Stakes at Keeneland, making up over 10 lengths to nail Into Mystic on the wire. A photo finish showed Got Stormy the winner by a head under Tyler Gaffalione, paying $3.80 as the heavy favorite. Trained by Mark Casse, the 5-year-old daughter of Get Stormy ran 5 1/2 furlongs over the turf course rated “good” in 1:02.33.

The Franklin was Got Stormy's second win in a row this season, following her victory in the Kentucky Downs Ladies Sprint Stakes on Sept. 12. She has not been worse than fourth this season, including a second-place finish in the 2020 Grade 1 Fourstardave, the race she won over males in 2019 before a strong second-place finish behind Uni in the Breeders' Cup Mile.

“My goodness, I wasn't sure (if she got there),” Casse said after the Franklin County. “I called (owner) Gary (Barber) and he was like 'I think we got beat.' She got shuffled back pretty good and I was like 'Oh, Tyler'. And then I kind of got excited because I knew when he wheeled her out she would come running. But that second place horse (Into Mystic) was tough, she hung in there. She didn't give it up. But what a wonderful mare (Got Stormy) is. Unbelievable.”

Got Stormy will now be pointed to the Breeders' Cup on Nov. 7 at Keeneland, and Casse said she will run in either the Turf Sprint or the Mile, depending on the condition of the turf course.

Jakarta led the field of 10 through a first quarter-mile in :21.84 as Gaffalione had Got Stormy in ninth and in the clear. Jakarta maintained the advantage through the half-mile, turning back initial bids from Surrender Now and Stillwater Cove.

At the head of the stretch, Into Mystic launched a bid three wide to get first run at the leader while Got Stormy swung six wide with three horses beat to begin her run. Into Mystic got the lead at midstretch from Jakarta but could not hold off the final surge from Got Stormy.

The victory was worth $90,000 and boosted Got Stormy's career earnings to $1,991,378 with a record of 25-10-5-3 that includes two Grade 1 victories.

A Keeneland sales graduate, Got Stormy is a 5-year-old Kentucky-bred daughter of Get Stormy out of the Malabar Gold mare Super Phoebe.

Got Stormy paid $3.80, $3 and $2.60. Into Mystic, ridden by Joe Talamo, returned $4.40 and $2.80 and finished a length in front of Jakarta, who paid $3.80 to show under Javier Castellano.

It was another length back to Change of Control, who was followed in order by Winning Envelope, Surrender Now, Stillwater Cove, Ambassador Luna, Violent Times and Chalon.

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Got Stormy Up In Time in Franklin County

Making just her second lifetime appearance in a true one-turn race and trying a distance as short as 5 1/2 furlongs for the first time in career start number 25, the classy Got Stormy (Get Stormy) needed every inch of the Keeneland stretch, but was shoved across the line by Tyler Gaffalione to win Friday’s GIII Buffalo Trace Franklin County S.

Got Stormy broke outward at the start, bothering Chalon (Dialed In) to her outside, and settled near the back of the field through the opening exchanges. Not rushed into the race and patiently handled while racing with cover on the turn, the chestnut was steered out to the grandstand side, but had the better part of a six-length deficit to overcome with time ticking away. But the 9-10 favorite sustained her rally into the final furlong and dropped her nose down just ahead of Into Mystic (Into Mischief), whom she defeated into third in their previous head-to-head battle in the GIII Ladies’ Sprint S. at Kentucky Downs Sept. 12. Got Stormy covered her final three-sixteenths of a mile in an other-worldly :16.75. She sprinted her final 110 yards in :5.69. Into Mystic sat a cozy trip inside, pulled out three wide at the entrance to the stretch and proved a luckless loser. Jakarta (Bustin Stones) made the running and settled for third.

Runner-up to Uni (GB) (More Than Ready) in last year’s GI Breeders’ Cup Mile, Got Stormy closed the season victoriously in the GI Matriarch S., but took some time to find form this year. Ridden a bit handier to the pace than she had been in 2019, Got Stormy just missed against males in the GI Kilroe Mile in March, but was no better than fourth in Belmont’s GIII Beaugay S. June 3 and in the GIII Poker S. July 4. She hinted at a return to her best with a hard-trying second to loose-on-the-lead Halladay (War Front) in defense of her title in the GI Fourstardave H. at Saratoga Aug. 22 before successfully dropping back to 6 1/2 furlongs over soft turf at Kentucky Downs last time.

Winning trainer Mark Casse indicated that Mother Nature could have a hand in which Breeders’ Cup race Got Stormy ends up in.

“[Owner] Gary [Barber] and I will talk about it and if the turf course were to be extremely firm, it would be a decision [between the Mile and the Turf Sprint]. It’s all going to depend on weather,” the conditioner said.

Pedigree Notes:

Got Stormy is one of two stakes performers for her dam, a half-sister to the Mt. Joy-bred MGSW/MGISP Smooth Air (Smooth Jazz) and to Grade II-winning juvenile Overdriven (Dixie Union). Third dam Twin Propeller was a reliable runner for Brian Burns’s operation in the Midwest, winning stakes events at the Fair Grounds and at Arlington Park while under the care of the late Gene Cilio. Got Stormy has a 2-year-old half-brother named Got Curly (Super Saver), a yearling half-brother by Mohaymen and a weanling half-brother by Bolt d’Oro. She was covered by Uncle Mo this past breeding season.

Friday, Keeneland
BUFFALO TRACE FRANKLIN COUNTY S.-GIII, $150,000, Keeneland, 10-9, 3yo/up, f/m, 5 1/2fT, 1:02.33, gd.
1–GOT STORMY, 124, m, 5, by Get Stormy
                1st Dam: Super Phoebe, by Malabar Gold
                2nd Dam: Air France, by French Deputy
                3rd Dam: Twin Propeller, by Known Fact
($23,000 Ylg ’16 KEESEP; $45,000 2yo ’17 EASMAY). O-Gary
Barber; B-Mt. Joy Stables, Pope, Marc & Pope McLean Jr. (KY);
T-Mark E. Casse; J-Tyler Gaffalione. $90,000. Lifetime Record:
MGISW, 25-10-5-3, $1,991,378. *1/2 to Sky Gold (Successful
Appeal), SP, $151,020. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Into Mystic, 120, f, 4, Into Mischief–Loveofalifetime, by
Medaglia d’Oro. ($650,000 2yo ’18 OBSAPR). O-Coleman,
George Chris and King, Brad; B-Runnymede Farm Inc. &
Catesby W. Clay Investment 2 LLC (KY); T-Brendan P. Walsh.
$30,000.
3–Jakarta, 120, m, 5, Bustin Stones–T J’s Stormy Wit, by
Stormello. ($35,000 4yo ’19 EASDEC). O-Three Diamonds
Farm; B-Arrowwood Farm (PA); T-Michael J. Maker. $15,000.
Margins: NO, 1, 1. Odds: 0.90, 4.50, 6.30.
Also Ran: Change of Control, Winning Envelope, Surrender Now, Stillwater Cove, Ambassador Luna, Violent Times, Chalon. Scratched: Bohemian Bourbon, Tomlin. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree

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California Chrome Filly Impresses on Woodbine Debut

8th-Woodbine, C$83,390, Msw, 10-8, 2yo, f, 5 1/2f (AWT), 1:03.38, ft, 5 1/2 lengths.
CALIFORNIA LILY (f, 2, California Chrome–Wildcat Lily {GSW & MGISP, $477,165}, by D’wildcat) was favored at first asking by just less than $2,000 and became the sixth winner for her freshman sire (by Lucky Pulpit) with an impressive debut success in Thursday’s finale from Woodbine. Quickly into stride beneath Rafael Hernandez, the blaze-faced chestnut set the pace with a bit of pressure to her outside for the opening couple of furlongs. But she pinched a break entering the final five-sixteenths of a mile and raced a touch greenly in the stretch, but put a gap on her rivals while never asked a serious question. Her winning margin was 5 1/2 lengths. Wildcat Lily, winner of the 2013 GIII Azalea S. and second in the GI Prioress S. and GI Test S. that season, is the dam of a yearling full-sister to the winner. Sales history: $80,000 Ylg ’19 FTKJUL; $87,000 2yo ’20 OBSMAR; $35,000 2yo ’20 OBSOPN. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $32,587. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
O-Gary Barber; B-Perry & Denise Martin (KY); T-Mark E Casse.

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