olliemyboy | Horse Racing Free Tips

Rupp Racing's multiple graded stakes winner Owendale headlines a competitive field of eight older horses for Saturday's 96th running of the $400,000 New Orleans Classic (G2) at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.

Run at 1 1/8 miles, the New Orleans Classic is Race 11-of-14 and one of eight stakes races on Saturday's program. The headliner is the $1 million TwinSpires.com Louisiana Derby (G2)—a Championship Series event on the Road to the Kentucky Derby. The All Stakes Late Pick Five (races 10-14) and All Stakes Late Pick Four (races 11-14) are both estimated at $750,000.

Trained by Brad Cox, Owendale began his 5-year-old campaign with a third-place effort in the Feb. 27 Razorback (G3) at Oaklawn Park behind top Dubai World Cup (G1) contender Mystic Guide. Installed as Mike Diliberto's 9-5 morning line favorite, the Into Mischief colt will break from post 2 with Florent Geroux aboard as he eyes his first graded stakes score since his 3-year-old campaign.

“Looking back, he didn't get the greatest trip behind a really tough horse (Mystic Guide),” Cox said of the Razorback. “It didn't appear that you wanted to be down inside at all that weekend, so we're hopeful he can move forward. I like the mile and an eighth with him. He's made about half of his money at the distance and we're hoping we can get his form turned around. We changed things up with Joel (Rosario) at Oaklawn but Florent knows the horse really well and I'm excited to get him back (aboard).”

Breaking to the inside of Owendale is Speedway Stable's 2019 Santa Anita Derby (G1) winner Roadster (3-1 with John Velazquez), who is making his first start in more than a year for new trainer Mike Stidham. The Quality Road colt was previously campaigned in California by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert and ran 15th in the 2019 Kentucky Derby.

“We got him at the end of the year,” Stidham said. “He's had issues with his feet since he was a 2-year-old so we had a little stopping and starting since I got him. But right now, we got him as good as he can be. You can see by his worktab, he's worked three quarters of a mile three times in a row. But he's coming off a year layoff, so he needed that to feel like I had him ready to go a mile and an eighth in a Grade 2 race.”

JMJ Racing Stables' Olliemyboy (post 3 at 12-1 with Irad Ortiz Jr.) will attempt his first start in graded stakes company for trainer Norm Casse following two consecutive allowance victories at the meet. Prior to entering Casse's barn at the end of 2020, the now 4-year-old son of Union Rags had competed primarily over the Tapeta surface at Woodbine. In his first dirt try at two turns, Olliemyboy crushed a first-level allowance field by 4 ¼ lengths and followed that performance with a 1 ½-length victory at against second-level allowance company.

“He wasn't flashy training on the dirt and I honestly didn't know what to expect when we led this horse over the first time,” Casse said. “He's earned his way into this race by doing all the right things. I'm really excited. His work two weeks ago was the best since I've had him. We put him in company with a fairly decent horse and it was heads up and we came back and just worked him a half-mile like he did before he won the second allowance. He's on the same pattern, but I feel like he's training very well and he looks fantastic. We are not dummies, we know we are longshots in here, but I think he's got a really good shot.”

Another quality horse expected to garner attention in the New Orleans Classic is Courtlandt Farms' three-time winner Sonneman (post 8 at 9-2 with Joe Talamo), who finished second behind Maxfield in the February 13 Mineshaft (G3)—the local prep for this race. Trained by Steve Asmussen, Sonneman recorded a powerful 5 ¾-length victory in early November at Churchill Downs.

Completing the New Orleans Classic from the rail out: Lothenbach Stables' homebred Captivating Moon (post 4 at 10-1 with Marcelino Pedroza), an upset winner of the Feb. 13 Fair Grounds (G3) on turf who is also cross-entered in R12, the $300,000 Muniz Memorial (G2) for trainer Chris Block; John Oxley's Enforceable (post 5 at 8-1 with Adam Beschizza), fifth in the Mineshaft for trainer Mark Casse; Estate of James Coleman's Chess Chief (post 6 at 6-1 with Luis Saez), a closing third in the Mineshaft for trainer Dallas Stewart; and Wayne T. Davis' Mocito Rojo (post 7 at 30-1 with James Graham), sixth in the local Tenacious in February for trainer Shane Wilson.

Watch and wager on Saturday's action from Fair Grounds on the official wagering provider of Churchill Downs Inc. – TwinSpires.com.

Additional New Orleans Classic quotes:

Stidham, Roadster: It's an aggressive spot but he's doing good and he's a quality horse; he won the Santa Anita Derby at a mile and an eighth. I feel like we've got him in peak condition, he looks like a million dollars, and he's training well, so we're going to take a shot. And the other thing is I didn't feel like this race was coming up as tough as it has in previous years. I figure we're taking a shot, but it's not a monster-tough race. – trainer Mike Stidham

Casse, Olliemyboy: We left the decision up to Adam (jockey Beschizza). He likes both horses, so it wasn't a matter of picking between them, it was more about staying loyal to my father (Mark) and to Mr. (John) Oxley. He got to ride that horse (Enforceable) in the Kentucky Derby and he wanted to be loyal to that horse. I would love to have Adam on. He's undefeated on our horse, he knows him very well and he has a lot of confidence on him but I think we brought in a bang-up substitute off the bench to say the least. It's a pretty wide-open race. It's a grade II for a lot of money and there are some good horses in there. I think the main for us is it's nine furlongs, which is right up his wheelhouse, we've won two races over the track already, so we are a horse who seems to be getting better every time he runs and these are the types of chances you take with horses like that.

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It's probably fitting that Norm Casse trains Olliemyboy. Up and coming trainer. Up and coming horse. Both are hoping to snag a big prize on the national scene when Casse saddles Olliemyboy as a live longshot in the New Orleans Classic (G2) on the March 20 undercard of the TwinSpires.com Louisiana Derby (G2) program at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.

Dennis Narlinger's JMJ Racing Stables' owns Olliemyboy, an Ontario-sired 4-year-old son of Union Rags who has impressed winning a pair of 1 1/16-mile dirt starts at the meet. He arrived in Casse's barn toward the end of 2020 after going 1-for-6 with trainer Arnaud Delacour and Sid Attard combined. He ran primarily over the Tapeta at Woodbine, including finishing 11th in the Queen's Plate in September against fellow Canadian foals, and came to Casse more by circumstance than anything else.

“Dennis wanted him to be based at the Fair Grounds,” Casse said. “He has a lot of trainers, but I was his only trainer that has horses here. I basically got the horse by default from Sid. I didn't do much with him, just put him into our program, and got him ready.”

Casse initially wanted to run Olliemyboy on the turf in an entry-level allowance here Jan. 14 but when the race was washed off the grass, he left him in and the result was a somewhat surprising, yet convincing 4 ¼-length win. Casse still went seeking turf but another allowance race didn't fill, which prompted him to enter back on the dirt in a Feb. 20 optional-claimer. Olliemyboy lagged well off a solid pace, made a wide, menacing move on the far turn, and drew away strongly late for a 1 ½-length win over a very solid group of accomplished runners.

“We've really been better lucky than good,” Casse admitted. “Having the race come off the turf and it was kind of an easy race. Then we were in between running him back on dirt or trying him on the turf, and the turf race didn't go. So, our hands have been played for us.”

The win last-out prompted Casse to look ahead to deeper waters, and with the big $400,000 purse of the New Orleans Classic, a 1 1/8-mile race over a Fair Grounds main track that Olliemyboy clearly likes, the time is right to take a shot with a horse who continues to improve. It also doesn't hurt that the undefeated Maxfield, who is 2-for-2 at the meet, is shipping out to California for the March 6 Santa Anita Handicap (G1).

“It's another step up, but I think it's a pretty wide-open race,” Casse said. “He's going to have to have some help on the front end, but I think he'll be very, very competitive in it. We're not going to try and reinvent the wheel. We're just going to train him the same way he came into the last two; just some nice solid works and hopefully he shows that next progression.”

Casse knows what it's like to be around a top-quality horse, as he served as his dad Mark's top assistant before going out on his own in 2018. Norm Casse was integral in the success of champions like Tepin and Classic Empire, who helped Mark Casse earn racing's highest honor in 2020, when he was elected to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.

Norm Casse had sent horses to Fair Grounds in the past, but also split his stock at Palm Meadows in Florida while running at Gulfstream Park. This year he decided to focus solely at Fair Grounds, and has enjoyed plenty of success, going 21-5-1-3 at the meet. With trainers like Brad Cox, Steve Asmussen, and Tom Amoss stabled locally, Casse knows New Orleans is the perfect place to earn his keep.

“Two-thirds of the guys that were nominated for the Eclipse Award for leading trainer are based here, so it's obviously a very good place to be,” Casse said. “I've got 24 here and that's my entire barn. It was an easy decision. Fair Grounds gave me the opportunity to have all my horses in one place instead of being spread out and that allowed me to concentrate on one racetrack.”

Casse brought a mix of maidens, claimers, and allowance horses with him and is constantly trying to build a stable he would like to see number reach 60-70 horses in the future. Whether it was learning from his Hall of Fame father, or competing on a day-in, day-out basis against the likes of a Hall of Famer and Eclipse Award winner in Asmussen, Eclipse Award winner Cox, and 11-time local champion in Amoss, Casse has tried to soak as much in as possible.

“I feel like if you're not learning something every day, you're not approaching it the right way,” Casse said. “You try to win every race but when you don't win, hopefully you learn from that. I hold my program and my stable in high regard, and I believe that when I bring horses over, even if it's a straight maiden race against Brad, Steve, or Tom, that we can compete with them and I believe in that.”

A Louisville native, Casse will head back to Churchill Downs after the meet and then to Saratoga over the summer. Where Olliemyboy runs at during those meets is still to be determined, but it's been so far, so good with a horse that might not fit the mold of most of Casse's horses.

“He's a cool horse,” Casse said. “He's not the style of horse that I like. I like a horse that shows good early speed and is tactical, he honestly drops back and makes one run. In the morning he's unremarkable. You wouldn't think he'd be a horse that's won two pretty good allowance races back-to-back and is being pointed to a Grade 2 in his next start, but he obviously takes care of business in the afternoons.”

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