Casse loaded for run at Autumn Stakes

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Mark Casse will send out a three-pronged attack in Saturday’s $175,000 Autumn Stakes when he runs Salute With Honor, Skywire, and Dream Maker in the Grade 2 route at Woodbine.

Salute With Honor will lead the way under Patrick Husbands. When he returned from a six-month layoff Aug. 23, the 6-year-old aired in a second-level allowance by 6 1/4 lengths with a big 96 Beyer Speed Figure.

Salute With Honor was favored Oct. 11 in the Grade 3 Durham Cup going the 1 1/16-mile distance of the Autumn. He established a daylight lead from the outset before holding off Skywire in a one-length score with a 95 Beyer.

“Salute With Honor got away with a nice lead, and Skywire got caught up [in traffic] or it would have been very close, I think,” Casse said.

Skywire won the Grade 2 Eclipse over an excellent field that included Avie’s Flatter and Mr Ritz on July 4. He subsequently ran second in the Grade 3 Seagram Cup before a dull turf experiment in the Grade 3 Singspiel.

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“I was shocked he didn’t run better on the grass,” Casse said.

Casse has had a frustrating time with Dream Maker, who was on the Kentucky Derby trail in 2019 before going to the sidelines for more than a year. He won his third start off the bench here Sept. 27 in a second-level allowance under Emma Wilson.

“Dream Maker has been an underachiever,” Casse said. “He’s extremely tough to ride. Emma did a great job riding him. If he were to ever get his act together, who knows how good he could be?”

The six-horse field also includes Armistice Day, who was a creditable fifth two back in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile on turf. He was uncharacteristically flat most recently in the Durham Cup.

“I thought he was going into [the Durham Cup] really good,” said trainer Barbara Minshall. “But mentally, I don’t think he was on top of his game. He just didn’t fire, but he’s felt good the last few weeks. I’m going to give him another shot.”

Attfield has trio in Maple Leaf

Trainer Roger Attfield entered three of the 10 fillies and mares in Saturday’s Grade 3, $125,000 Maple Leaf, including the supplements Elizabeth Way and Gun Society.

Attfield’s best chance is probably with Art of Almost, who closed for second behind a peaking Summer Sunday in the 1 1/16-mile Belle Mahone Stakes on Sept. 26. She shouldn’t mind the stretch-out to 1 1/4 miles in the Maple Leaf, which Attfield has won three times.

Casse entered Tappitty Tappitty and Heavenly Curlin, a lightly-raced 3-year-old who may possess the most upside in the lineup. After graduating in her first Tapeta start here July 12, the daughter of Curlin went to the shelf for three months before doubling up in an Oct. 10 allowance.