With Anticipation: To the suprise of almost everyone, Boppy O lasts over Battle of Normandy

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Mark Casse said that when he woke up Wednesday morning, following a day and night of heavy rains throughout the local area, he thought to himself “well I’m going to run both of them [his two entrants in the $175,000 With Anticipation Stakes] on the dirt.”

But to the surprise of most, turf racing went on as scheduled Wednesday at Saratoga, and to the surprise of many more, it was Casse’s 23-1 Boppy O who came out on top in the Grade 3 event for 2-year-olds.

Boppy O held off a late surge from 2-1 co-favorite Battle of Normandy to register a stunning neck upset while giving jockey Dylan Davis his third victory on the card.

Boppy O entered the mile and one-sixteenth With Anticipation off a dismal 10th-place finish in the Grade 3 Sanford on July 16, a race decided at six furlongs on the dirt. The With Anticipation marked not only Boppy O’s first start on turf, but also his first around two turns.

Boppy O broke very alertly under Davis, then was reserved just off the pace of El Conejito. He took control midway on the second turn, shook off a determined bid from Andthewinneris from the top of the lane through mid-stretch, then withstood a final run from Battle of Normandy.

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The latter raced well placed, did not seem to be responding to pressure when set down for the drive until late stretch when putting in a belated rally that fell just short at the end.

Andthewinneris finished third while Boppy O’s uncoupled stablemate Determinedly was fourth.

Boppy O is a son of Bolt d’Oro out of the Scat Daddy mare Pappascat and the younger brother of $833,000 earner Pappacap. He is owned in partnership by John Oxley and Breeze Easy LLC.

Boppy O completed the distance over a “good” course in 1:46.93 and paid $48.20.

“I told my owners after his last race ‘I promise you he’s better than that,’ ” Casse recalled. “That when you run on the dirt here, if you don’t have speed, if they don’t have a clean face when they come home, you really can’t get a true indication.

“My feeling is that Bolt d’Oro’s are going to be good on the grass, but the bottom line was I just wanted to run him further, and I thought he breezed well enough on the turf to deserve a shot in this race. I might have been a little surprised, but I really wasn’t shocked that he won.”