Mark Casse | Horse Racing Free Tips

‘Our Only Chance To Bring A Level Playing Field To Racing’: Hall Of Famer Mark Casse Joins WHOA

Mark E. Casse, one of the newest members of the National Museum of Racings Hall of Fame has joined the Water Hay Oats Alliance (WHOA). Successful in both the United States and Canada, Casse has won the Sovereign Award for Outstanding Trainer in Canada a record 12 times and was inducted into the Canadian Racing Hall of Fame in 2016.

Mr. Casse remarked in his statement to WHOA, “After much thought, I have decided to join the WHOA. I continue to be frustrated by the lack of uniformity in our industry, and I know that WHOA is a big supporter of the Horseracing Integrity Act, as am I. It is my belief that it is our only chance to bring a level playing field to racing.”

Even in these uncertain times, WHOA continues to lobby for the Horseracing Integrity Act (HR1754/S1820). Support is growing with 253 cosponsors in the House of Representatives and 25 cosponsors in the Senate. The racing industry needs to band together and get behind passage of the bill in the 116th Congress. Support from racing leaders like Mark Casse is imperative to the effort.

Casse has trained Eclipse Award winners Classic Empire, Shamrock Rose, Tepin, and World Approval, as well as Canadian Horse of the Year honorees Catch a Glimpse, Lexie Lou, Sealy Hill, Uncaptured, and Wonder Gadot. He has won a total of seven races in the Canadian Triple Crown series, five Breeders' Cup races, and the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot with Tepin. Casse has trained 18 horses that have won $1 million or more and has been the leading trainer at Woodbine (11 times), Turfway (four times), Keeneland (three times), and Churchill Downs (twice).

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‘Happy Horse’ Sir Winston, Consistent Tacitus Renew Rivalry In Suburban

Saturday's Grade 2, $200,000 Suburban, a 1 1/4-mile test on Big Sandy, will feature the one-two-three finishers of last year's Grade 1 Belmont Stakes as Sir Winston, Tacitus and Joevia renew their rivalry on Runhappy Met Mile Day at Belmont Park.

The Suburban, a 10-furlong test for 4-year-olds and upward is one of five graded stakes on a loaded card headlined by the Grade 1 Runhappy Met Mile, open to 3-year-olds and up, offering a berth in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile; along with the Grade 1, $400,000 Manhattan for 4-year-olds and up going 1 1/4-miles on turf; the Grade 3, $150,000 Poker, a one-mile turf test for older horses; and the Grade 3, $100,000 Victory Ride, a 6 1/2-furlong sprint for sophomore fillies.

Tracy Farmer's Sir Winston, trained by Hall of Famer Mark Casse, was a 10-1 upset winner of the 2019 Belmont Stakes. The Awesome Again chestnut, out of the Afleet Alex mare La Gran Bailadora, rallied from eighth in the “Test of the Champion” to outkick Tacitus for a one-length win.

Sir Winston made a successful seasonal debut with a 2 ¼-length score in an optional-claiming mile at Aqueduct Racetrack on January 31. After traveling for the Dubai World Cup, which was cancelled amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Sir Winston made his belated return on June 11 on a sloppy Belmont strip in the 1 3/8-mile Flat Out, running second by 5 ¼-lengths to Suburban rival Moretti.

Casse said the Flat Out effort was deceptively good.

“It was a lot to ask of him. There was no speed in the race and the sloppy track probably didn't help us either,” said Casse. “He got a little tired, but he showed gameness to even run second. I think he'll run really well.”

Casse said the colt, who breezed a half-mile in 50.78 seconds on June 26 on Big Sandy, got a lot out of the Flat Out effort and is coming into Saturday's test in good order.

“I think he got a lot out of it,” said Casse regarding the Flat Out. “My biggest concern is that he got too much out of it. He came back and worked well. He's a happy horse and he loves Belmont.”

Joel Rosario, aboard for the Belmont Stakes score, will have the call from post 6.

Juddmonte Farms' homebred Tacitus, a 4-year-old colt by Tapit and out of the Eclipse Award-winning mare Close Hatches, enjoyed a productive sophomore season posting a record of 7-2-3-2 with purse earnings of $1,634,500.

Following Grade 2 wins in the Tampa Bay Derby and Wood Memorial at the Big A for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, Tacitus rallied from 16th in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby en route to being elevated to third. The ultra-consistent Tacitus followed up his Derby effort by completing the exacta in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes and winning both the Grade 2 Jim Dandy and Grade 1 Runhappy Travers at Saratoga. He completed a lengthy campaign with a third in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup in September travelling 1 ¼-miles on Big Sandy.

The Suburban will mark the third start of the season for Tacitus following a fifth in the Group 1 Saudi Cup in February and a fourth in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap on May 2.

Hall of Famer John Velazquez retains the mount from the inside post.

Michael Fazio and Jeff Fazio's Joevia set the pace en route to a strong third in the 2019 Belmont Stakes. Trained by Gregg Sacco, the Shanghai Bobby colt captured the Long Branch at Monmouth Park in a productive 3-year-old campaign.

After winning his seasonal debut in January in an optional-claiming sprint at the Big A, Joevia posted a pair of off-the-board efforts in the Grade 3 Razorback in February at Oaklawn and the Stymie in March at Aqueduct.

Joevia then underwent surgery to correct a breathing issue and was subsequently fourth last out in the Grade 3 Westchester off a three-month layoff.
Joevia will emerge from post 5 under Jose Ortiz.

Repole Stable and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' Moretti, trained by Todd Pletcher, secured his first stakes score last out in the Flat Out with a frontrunning performance under Hall of Famer Javier Castellano.

The 4-year-old Medaglia d'Oro colt graduated at second asking at Aqueduct in December 2018 and waited until May to secure his second career score when rallying from off-the-pace in an Oaklawn Park allowance route ahead of his Flat Out coup.

Bred in Kentucky by Thoro-Bred Stables, Moretti is out of the Grade 1-winning Concerto broodmare Rigoletta who also produced Grade 1-winning millionaire Battle of Midway. He was purchased for $900,000 from the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale

Moretti will emerge from post 8 with Castellano.

Chester and Mary Broman's New York-bred millionaire Mr. Buff will look to start another winning streak. The sizable 6-year-old Friend or Foe gelding enjoyed a three-race win streak from December to February at the Big A with scores in the Alex M. Robb, Jazil and capped by a 20-length romp in the Haynesfield.

Last out, when second in the restricted Commentator at Belmont on June 12, Mr. Buff bobbled at the start of the one-turn mile and chased the early speed of Blewitt, but could not hold off the late charge of Funny Guy.

He will exit post 4 under Junior Alvarado, who previously won the Suburban with Flat Out [2013], Effinex [2015] and last year aboard Preservationist.

Rounding out the field are Parsimony [Kendrick Carmouche, post 2], Forewarned [Manny Franco, post 3] and Just Whistle [Irad Ortiz, Jr., post 7].

Slated as the closing event at 6:51 p.m. Eastern on Saturday's 11-race card, which offers a first post of 1:15 p.m., the Suburban will feature live on America's Day at the Races, produced by NYRA in partnership with FOX Sports, and airing live on Fox Sports and MSG+.

America's Day at the Races will offer live coverage of Belmont Park stakes action from 1 – 5 p.m. and from 6 – 7 p.m. on FS1. NBC will provide live coverage of the Runhappy Met Mile from 5 – 6 p.m. Free Equibase-provided past performances are available for races that are part of the America's Day at the Races broadcast and can be accessed at https://www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/tv-schedule.

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Casse Hoping Got Stormy Brings ‘A Game’ To Just A Game

Gary Barber's Got Stormy will be running at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., for the second time this month when she competes in the seven-horse Grade 1, $250,000 Just a Game for fillies and mares 4-years-old and up on Saturday.

The 27th running of the Just a Game, contested at one mile on the Widener turf, is one of four graded stakes on the 11-race card. It will also feature three contenders from trainer Chad Brown, including 7-5 favorite Uni, 8-5 second-choice Newspaperofrecord, and 10-1 Regal Glory.

Got Stormy, trained by Hall of Famer Mark Casse, ran fourth in the Grade 3 Beaugay on June 3, bobbling at the start of the 1 1/16-mile turf route before finishing six lengths back to Rushing Fall, another Brown trainee.

In the Just a Game, Got Stormy drew post 2 with Luis Saez aboard and is listed at 5-1 on the morning line.

“We're just hoping for her to bounce back with her 'A' game. It's a small but mighty field,” Casse said. “There's some speed in there with Newspaperofrecord. My hope would be that we are sitting somewhere in mid-pack.”

All eight of Got Stormy's wins have come at one mile. With weather expected to be in the mid 80-degrees, Casse said he hopes the expected rain doesn't come until after the race's 6:08 p.m. Eastern post time.

“The turf should be fairly hard and the mile is definitely her cup of tea,” Casse said.

Got Stormy won four races in 2019, racking up wins in the Grade 1 Matriarch in December at Del Mar and the Grade 1 Fourstardave Handicap in August at Saratoga Race Course. As a 5-year-old, she ran second, by a neck, to River Boyne in the Grade 1 Frank E. Kilroe on March 7 at Santa Anita.

Live Oak Plantation's Tap It to Win was the speed in last Saturday's Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes before tiring and finishing fifth in the American Classic won by New York-bred Tiz the Law.

Running in the first leg of the Triple Crown was a big step up for the Tapit colt, who started his sophomore campaign with back-to-back wins in an optional claimer and against allowance company.

Casse saw Tap It to Win post a front-running five-length score on June 4 at Belmont, going 1 1/16 miles. Off a quick turnaround, the Florida homebred was put in the Belmont Stakes, contested this year at 1 1/8 miles instead of its famed 1 1/2-mile distance, under Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez.

“He's good. We tried. Maybe 16 days [back] wasn't his thing. I don't think he brought his 'A' game,” Casse said. “All credit to Tiz the Law and Barclay [Tagg, winning trainer]. I was disappointed in our horse's effort. But I was happy for the winning connections. It was well deserved.”

With the Saratoga summer meet running from July 16 to September 7, Casse said he has options to run Tap It to Win back at the Spa. He also said he might scale back the distance with the Belmont marking the first time Tap It to Win ran longer than 1 1/16 miles.

“I don't think the distance was a factor. Probably he's a just a horse who can't come back so quickly off such a big effort,” Casse said.

The Grade 1, $300,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial, contested at seven furlongs on Saratoga's Whitney Day on August 1, could be a possibility for his next spot.

“I think the positive is that we know we have a good horse,” Casse said. “I'm going to sit back and let him tell us when he's ready to go again. I don't know; I haven't thought about it too much yet. Going back to seven-eighths in the Allen Jerkens is something we may look at. We're going to let him chill for a little bit. He ran three hard races in not a long period of time, so we'll let him tell us when he's ready to go. We do know he loves Saratoga.”

Tap It to Win fell short in his bid to make Casse the first trainer to repeat as the Belmont Stakes winner since fellow Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas captured three in a row from 1994-96. Casse won the carnations last year with Sir Winston, who followed that 2019 campaign by returning to Belmont's Big Sandy earlier this month. The Awesome Again colt, who started his 4-year-old campaign with a win against optional claimers in January at Aqueduct, ran second to Moretti in the Flat Out on June 11.

Contesting over a sloppy and sealed track, Sir Winston came from off the pace to run second in the nine-horse Flat Out.

“I was happy with him. He was up against it with no speed in the race and the weather,” Casse said.

Sir Winston breezed four furlongs in 50.78 seconds on Friday over Belmont's main track.

Casse said he is still pointing towards the Grade 2, $200,000 Suburban at 1 ¼ miles on Belmont's packed July 4 card that will be headlined by the Grade 1, $500,000 Runhappy Met Mile.

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Hoyte, Exercise Rider To The Stars, Gets First Woodbine Race Win

Jason Hoyte, a longtime respected exercise rider at Woodbine racetrack near Toronto, celebrated his first Canadian win as he guided the 3-year-old filly French Charm ($3.30) to a maiden-breaking score in Sunday's opener.

The daughter of Commissioner overtook longshot leader Classy n' Silent down the stretch and held off Anita Grigio at the end of the 5-1/2-furlong contest to win in 1:06.18 for trainer Ricky Griffith and owners Steve Duffield and Racing Canada Inc.

“It means so much to me. It's just a blessing come true. Hard work does pay off,” said Hoyte of his first Woodbine win.

Hoyte began his race riding career in Barbados back in 2000, winning his first race with Tikashar at the Garrison Savannah racetrack. He arrived in Canada in 2004 and started galloping horses for Steve Owens then became the go-to morning rider for Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse for 16 years, breezing some of the biggest stars of the sport in preparation for the biggest races including the likes of Hall of Famers Tepin and Sealy Hill.

Hoyte, who was inspired by his friend and fellow jockey Keveh Nicholls to return to racing action, made just his 13th start a winning one.

Live Thoroughbred racing continues, without spectators, on Thursday, featuring the season's debut of sprint sensation Pink Lloyd in the $125,000 Jacques Cartier Stakes (Grade 3). First post time is 3:45 p.m. ET. Fans can watch and wager on all the action via HPIbet.com and tune into Racing Night Live on TSN3 and TSN5 from 6-8 p.m. for live racing from Woodbine Racetrack and Woodbine Mohawk Park.

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