Casse, Joseph square off in maiden turf route
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Gulfstream Park will host two maiden special weights for juvenile fillies on Friday, and trainers Mark Casse and Saffie Joseph Jr. seem prepared with live debuting runners. Both trainers have been shipping young horses around the country this summer, but they still have contenders close to home.
Miss Soothsayer will make her first start for Casse in the second race on Friday, a $70,000 maiden special weight at a mile on turf. The unique condition provides trainers the opportunity to give horses an early distance test.
“I like going farther,” Casse said. “For the most part, it’s a more pleasant experience. You run them short on the dirt and they just get pounded by dirt. This way, they can learn to relax. Ultimately, I want our horses to run and run farther and learn.”
Purchased for $52,000 at the 2024 Keeneland September Yearling Sale and now owned by Gary Barber and Quintessential Racing Florida, Miss Soothsayer is by sire War of Will, the 2019 Preakness winner who later won the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile on turf. Her unraced dam, Soother, produced Carotari, a six-time stakes-winning turf sprinter, and Canisy, winner of a 1 1/16-mile turf stakes at Parx last year.
Casse has not had much luck at Gulfstream this meet, striking at just an 8 percent clip as his stable gets stretched up and down the East Coast. Miss Soothsayer has been training forwardly on synthetic, however, and should make some noise for him while he tends to business in New York. The trainer also entered Mi Amada, a debuting filly bred and owned by Tracy Farmer, but she drew the far outside post in the field of 12 and will likely scratch.
Joseph has some skin in the game in the second as well, as he sends out Willy Nilly. Like Miss Soothsayer to her inside, she went to auction at the 2024 Keeneland September Yearling Sale and was purchased by Joseph for $170,000. She is now owned by e Five Racing Thoroughbreds, Madaket Stables, and Final Furlong Farm.
Though he is encouraged by the filly’s progress, Joseph said that Willy Nilly may not stay on turf, as he primarily chose this spot because of the added distance. Sired by Nyquist, she will likely end up on the dirt.
While he takes a patient approach with Willy Nilly, Joseph has one in the fourth race who will likely be ready right away at six furlongs on dirt. Love Like Lucy has been working well at Palm Meadows Training Center and will be the likely favorite in a $53,000 maiden special weight for Florida-bred fillies.
“She’s training forwardly,” Joseph said. “She’s drawn [post] 1 so she needs to break well, but she’s shown speed from the gate. If she breaks well, she’s fit enough to go wire to wire.“
Bred by Brereton C. Jones and owned by MyRacehorse, Thoroughbred Acquisition Group, and Miller Racing, Love Like Lucy is by Win Win Win, who took the Grade 1 Forego in the final race of his career in 2020. The filly will pick up where her versatile sire left off, as Joseph said that she should easily handle a dirt sprint in her first start.
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