Caspar Netscher brings full passport to Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint

ARCADIA, Calif. – Caspar Netscher has been on the go all through October – to racetracks in three countries and over the Atlantic twice.

After finishing fifth in the Group 3 Bengough Stakes at Ascot on Oct. 4, Caspar Netscher traveled to Woodbine, where he won his first stakes since April 2012 in the Grade 2 Nearctic Stakes. To satisfy international quarantine requirements, the 5-year-old horse was sent to Holland in the days after the Nearctic Stakes before traveling back to North America for Saturday’s $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita.

Through it all, Caspar Netscher has thrived.

“We took a blood [sample] in Amsterdam, and the trip has gone very well,” trainer David Simcock said. “He’s been very fresh and bright. He came out of Woodbine very well.”

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Simcock is hopeful that Caspar Netscher can win the biggest race of his career in the BC Turf Sprint over about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course. If he runs well, Caspar Netscher will be considered for yet another international trip – to Hong Kong in December.

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Owned by Charles Wentworth, Caspar Netscher won two Group 2 races as a 2-year-old in England in 2011, the Gimcrack Stakes and the Mill Reef Stakes. He was eighth in the BC Juvenile Turf at Churchill Downs that year, his only start in the United States. Caspar Netscher has won four stakes, ranging from six to seven furlongs on turf.

Simcock said he’s hoping there will be a quick pace in the BC Turf Sprint to soften top rivals such as Reneesgotzip and No Nay Never.

“If they go too hard, he’ll finish really strong,” he said.