Biding his time, Casse has Classic Q cranked up for Ladies Turf
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The trainer Mark Casse had Classic Q entered in the Grade 1 Fourstardave Stakes on Aug. 8 at Saratoga. He had a second entrant, Mi Bago, who deploys a front-running style just like Classic Q’s, and the Fourstardave not only included other pace players, it featured North America’s leading turf horse, Deterministic, who wound up winning.
Casse could have thrown the 4-year-old Classic Q into that meat grinder for $750,000, or wait and face other fillies and mares for twice the purse in the Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf. Door No. 2 definitely was the way to go.
Scratched from the Fourstardave, Classic Q shows up in the $1.5 million Ladies Turf on Saturday the odds-on morning-line favorite against just seven foes. If she comes anywhere near her standard form this season, she wins.
“Looking at the Fourstardave, I just kind of felt the race was a little beyond her. They were going to go fast and lay on top of us,” Casse said.
Not much has been beyond Classic Q this season, when she took good sophomore form to a new level. Second to the Grade 1-winner Lush Lips in February, Classic Q came back to beat subsequent Grade 1 winner Portfolio Duration in the Grade 2 Distaff Turf Mile on Derby Day at Churchill Downs, then went wire to wire knocking out her first Grade 1 in the Just a Game on the Belmont Stakes undercard.
Classic Q last raced June 6 and has posted just three timed workouts coming into the Ladies Turf. But she’s a lightly made, athletic filly, and Casse says she’s ready to roll.
“She’s pretty easy to get ready,” he said.
Look at Classic Q’s form and you might think she turned in a subpar performance in her lone Kentucky Downs start, the Music City, last season, but Classic Q had a really rough trip in that extended sprint and still was finishing with good energy under Flavien Prat.
“Flavien came back after the race and just said, ‘I’m sorry,’ ” Casse said.
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John Velazquez has the mount Saturday and figures to go straight to the lead. Princess Moche could show some pace, but she’s not in Classic Q’s class. Nor are any of the other horses in the Ladies Turf – at least those who have raced on turf.
The Ladies Turf wild card is Bless the Broken, who has lost four in a row since a sharp comeback win in a Jan. 9 Fair Grounds allowance race. But even while losing, Bless the Broken has run solidly, twice Grade 1-placed, and after a slight step back July 24 in the Shuvee at Saratoga, trainer Brad Cox clearly focused on a surface switch.
Bless the Broken has four Saratoga turf works, and those that are on public video show a horse who could spring a surprise. The farther she goes in her grass breezes, the better Bless the Broken works, and she might be coming for Classic Q in the late stages of a testing mile.
Music City
Cy Fair has no peer, at least among sophomore fillies and perhaps among all fillies and mares, sprinting five or 5 1/2 furlongs on turf.
She won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint last fall, but got the wrong trip, racing on the lead, in her first start this season, and finished third in the Limestone at Keeneland. She then beat a strong field in the Mamzelle at Churchill and reached a new high-water mark July 18 in the Coronation Cup at Saratoga, unleashing an even more dazzling turn of foot than usual and roaring to a 2 1/2-length victory.
Her trainer, George Weaver, has every intention of taking Cy Fair to the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint over 5 1/2 furlongs at Keeneland, but a new challenge awaits Saturday – the Grade 2 Music City Stakes, run at 6 1/2 furlongs over the Kentucky Downs course. Cy Fair has never raced on anything comparable to the irregularly shaped, undulating course, nor has she competed at a distance longer than 5 1/2 furlongs.
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“This filly is really, really good, and she’s earned the right to run in this race,” Weaver said. “We almost owe it to her to expand her horizons a little. We’re asking her to step out of the box a little bit, but she’s just a great filly. And as we know, the great ones are just more capable of stepping outside the box.”
Weaver said connections considered a Kentucky Downs start last year, but with the Breeders’ Cup a focus, Weaver didn’t want to experiment with the filly the way he’s willing to now. And the money, Weaver readily concedes, is an inducement. The Music City, restricted to 3-year-old fillies, is worth $1.5 million to Kentucky-breds like Cy Fair.
“The purse is too much to pass up,” said Weaver.
Cy Fair, with John Velaquez named, drew the rail in a race that attracted 16 entrants but can accommodate only a dozen runners. Talk about not scaring anybody off.
Cy Fair simply wins if she runs her race. Sapphire Beach – who was entered in two spots but runs in the Music City, per trainer Rusty Arnold – looms the most obvious threat. She edged Cy Fair at Keeneland but proved no match last out at Saratoga. Sapphire Beach did draw well on the outside to get the sort of pressing trip she needs under Jose Ortiz.
Quiet Street could factor at a price. She won the Untapable over this course last year and comes off the best race of her career, slaloming between foes to capture a salty renewal of the Lady Erie Stakes at Presque Isle Downs.
Turf Sprint
John the Beer Man, on speed figures, currently stands as the fastest horse in the Grade 2, $1.75 million Turf Sprint. My Boy Prince, a 10-time winner with a $1.6 million bankroll, is the most accomplished runner in the Turf Sprint. But Possiblemente just might be the horse to bet in the six-furlong Turf Sprint.
A 10-1 shot on the track’s morning line, 6-year-old Possiblemente turned into a new horse last winter while making his second start for trainer Joe Sharp. Possiblemente debuted in a sprint, then ran in 27 route races before the lightbulb went on in Sharp’s head. Why not try the gelding in a one-turn race again?
“He was always running off to the lead and emptying out late. We figured if you gave him something to chase, maybe he’d be better off,” Sharp said.
And how. Possiblemente earned a career-best 96 Beyer Speed Figure winning a Turfway Park allowance in his first race after the cutback in distance. He won again with a 99, then switched to turf and checked in a fast-closing fifth over 5 1/2 furlongs in the Grade 2 Turf Sprint on May 2 at Churchill. That distance was a little too short for Possiblemente, who galloped out far in front.
“He didn’t really know what we were asking of him that day,” Sharp said.
Possiblemente has been freshened since a solid second July 5 at Saratoga in the Harvey Pack. He’ll have pace to chase and should relish this race’s six furlongs.
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