Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf: Casse duo faces foreign invaders
The $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf on Friday will make history as the first Breeders’ Cup event contested at picturesque Keeneland. Appropriately enough for an event themed as a “homecoming,” a pair of leading European-based runners leading the annual invasion were, in fact, bred in Kentucky. However, a strong North American-based contingent is waiting to welcome them back.
“I feel like our colts are as good as any colts in North America,” said trainer Mark Casse, who will saddle a pair in Conquest Daddyo and Airoforce. “It’s just a question of how the Europeans come over and do. And we know they’re tough, right?”
Indeed, horses making their most recent start outside of North America have won six of the eight runnings of the Juvenile Turf since its inception in 2007. This year, four horses in the overflow field fit that bill – including two likely favorites drawn to the outside of the gate, Cymric and Hit It a Bomb.
The favored Cymric, trained by John Gosden, landed in post 13 under William Buick but still looms large in his stateside debut. The colt finished second by a neck to the unbeaten Ultra in the Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere in France. Cymric heads up a solid team for the international Godolphin operation, which also sends out Group 2 winner Birchwood, trained by Richard Fahey. Birchwood most recently was third to Air Force Blue, Europe’s leading juvenile, in the Group 1 National Stakes in Ireland.
Hit It a Bomb, unbeaten in two starts, leads a pair of entries for Aidan O’Brien, who also has the Group 2-placed Shogun. Hit It a Bomb, who drew post 14 under Ryan Moore, comes in off a 4 1/2-length win in a minor stakes on Dundalk’s synthetic surface.
The local team is led by Casse’s graded stakes winners Airoforce and Conquest Daddyo, both of whom have a home-court advantage. Airoforce stretched out from six furlongs in his debut to win the Grade 3 Bourbon Stakes, the local prep, at 1 1/16 miles. Conquest Daddyo has been based at Keeneland in recent weeks after winning the Grade 2 Summer Stakes on Sept. 12 at Woodbine in his first try on turf after two starts on synthetic.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 8 Airoforce and No. 10 Conquest Daddyo. Since the start of 2014, trainer Mark Casse has won 7 of the 10 graded turf stakes for juveniles that he has entered runners (14-7-0-1, $9.93 ROI; four of those losses came to one of his own horses). – Mike Hogan
Conquest Daddyo came home quickly in his final work at Keeneland under Joe Bravo, with Casse catching the colt in 35 seconds and change for his last three furlongs en route to a five-furlong clocking of 1:00.73.
“The deal with him and the key to all of it is if you grab him a little bit early and get him into the bit, he’ll come,” Casse said. “That’s what [Bravo] said today. He said, ‘This is the horse I rode in the Summer.’ That’s the key to him.”
Conquest Daddyo will have pace to run into in the Juvenile Turf, as Zuma Beach Stakes winner Dressed in Hermes – who has trained brilliantly at Keeneland – and Manhattan Dan, who made the pace in the Summer Stakes before finishing third, are drawn in posts 1 and 3. Sandwiched between them is another major contender, Azar. The colt, who has seemingly improved with each start, won the Grade 2 With Anticipation Stakes at Saratoga as a maiden, then finished second by a neck in the Grade 3 Pilgrim Stakes.
“I think the real key with him improving [in the With Anticipation] from his previous maiden race was he was able to get back behind horses a little bit, get some cover, and showed another dimension when he was able to kick on,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “In his previous race, he was alone on the lead and sort of still green and looking around a bit.
“I actually thought he ran really well in the Pilgrim. John Velazquez said he had to make a little bit of an earlier move. He started kind of getting waves of horses running at him in the middle of the turn, and in order to protect his position, he felt like he moved a little sooner than he ideally wanted. I think he’s physically and mentally developed with each race.”
Camelot Kitten, a charging second in the Bourbon Stakes, and Ray’s The Bar, third in the Pilgrim with a troubled trip in his first North American start, both should benefit from the pace scenario for trainer Chad Brown.
Sheikh of Sheikhs, who would be making his first start on turf, was excluded from the main body of the field as the also-eligible. He has until scratch time at 8 a.m. Eastern on Friday to draw in.