Casse could have two for Azeri

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Breeders’ Cup winner Shamrock Rose was scheduled to arrive at Oaklawn Park on Thursday for an intended start in the Grade 2, $350,000 Azeri, trainer Mark Casse said. The 1 1/16-mile race for fillies and mares is March 16.

Shamrock Rose won the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint on Nov. 3 at Churchill Downs. Earlier in her career, she won a pair of stakes at two turns and was second to Wonder Gadot going 1 1/16 miles in the Grade 3 Mazarine at Woodbine.

Casse said that Shamrock Rose is not necessarilly a sprinter, and that she ran in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint because she was coming off a victory going seven furlongs in the Raven Run at Keeneland.

“It was just natural to come back in the Breeders’ Cup,” he said. “My feeling has always been she’s a better two-turn horse. I said that even before she started. I wanted to run her two turns.”

Shamrock Rose, a daughter of First Dude owned by Conrad Farms, was to fly in Thursday from Florida. She has made one start since the Breeders’ Cup, finishing fourth in the Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie on a sloppy track Jan. 26 at Gulfstream Park.

Wonder Gadot, the winner of last year’s Queen’s Plate and Prince of Wales for owner Gary Barber, joined Casse’s Oaklawn division about a week ago, the trainer said. She worked five-eighths in 1:01 on Wednesday under David Cohen. She was ninth in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff in her last start Nov. 3, and earlier in the year had run second in the Fantasy at Oaklawn and second in the Kentucky Oaks.

“She’s coming along,” Casse said. “She could possibly end up in the Azeri. Both fillies have the goal of the Apple Blossom.”

The Grade 1, $700,000 Apple Blossom will be run April 14 at Oaklawn.