Casse may run two Smile Sprint nominees in Sea of Grass
Stablemates Grande Shores and Sing Praises are among the 17 horses nominated for next Saturday’s Grade 2 Smile Sprint. But trainer Mark Casse may not wait that long. Both horses are entered in Sunday’s $75,000 Sea of Grass, an overnight stakes restricted to Florida-breds going 6 1/2 furlongs at Gulfstream Park.
Grande Shores is looking to get back on track after running an uncharacteristically dull race when finishing a distant fifth behind Requite in the Parrot Key Stakes. Grande Shores, a leader among the local sprint division for the past several seasons, won the Sir Shackleton Stakes here on April 2 and was third earlier in the year in both the Grade 3 Hal’s Hope and Grade 3 Fred Hooper.
Sing Praises, on the other hand, has not started since finishing seventh while making his grass debut in the Sunshine Millions Turf Sprint Preview in November. Sing Praises won two of the three legs of the Florida Sire Series at 2 but was winless in five starts at 3. Like Grande Shores, he was transferred from trainer Stanley Gold to Casse during the spring.
The Sea of Grass came up a competitive race, with stakes winner Yourdreamsormine, the runner-up in the Parrot Key, likely to vie for favoritism with Abounding Legacy, an impressive high-priced optional-claiming winner May 22.
The remainder of the field consists of We’re All Set, Mitos Y Leyendas, Colormepompom, Aces for John, Springmeier, and Master Blender.