Casse stakes winners return in pair of turf preps

OLDSMAR, Fla. – Two of trainer Mark Casse’s stakes winners can show that their recent injuries are behind them when they run Wednesday at Tampa Bay Downs in turf races that serve as preps for stakes.

Casse has Lexie Lou, Canada’s 2014 Horse of the Year, entered in the seventh race, an optional $100,000 claimer at one mile that offers a $28,000 purse. The race is a prep for the Grade 3 Endeavour Stakes here Feb. 13, but Lexie Lou almost certainly will not run in that race because Casse plans to run Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Tepin there. Instead, Casse hopes to run Lexie Lou in the Grade 2 Hillsborough Stakes here March 12.

Casse also has Conquest Tsunami entered in Wednesday’s fifth race, an optional $100,000 claimer going 1 1/16 miles for a $28,000 purse. The race is a prep for the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Stakes here Feb. 13.

Lexie Lou was limited to one start last year, finishing second in the Grade 2 La Canada Stakes last January, because she scratched her eye in her stall and needed time to heal the injury, Casse said.

“We’re excited about running her,” he said. “It’s been a long, hard road.”

Lexie Lou is the 8-5 morning-line favorite against seven other fillies and mares Wednesday. Back in 2014, she won the Queen’s Plate over males and the Woodbine Oaks before scoring in the Grade 3 Autumn Miss at Santa Anita and finishing second to Horse of the Year California Chrome in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby. Lexie Lou, a 5-year-old Sligo Bay mare, had five published works last month at Winding Oaks Farm in Ocala, Fla., ahead of her return.

“She’s been training as good as I’ve ever seen her train,” Casse said. “For us right now, it’s just about bringing her back safely and bringing her back to her best form, and that’s going to take a race or two. This is a solid field. I wish it was a little easier for her.”

Lexie Lou drew the outside post and will have leading rider Antonio Gallardo aboard for the first time. Among her challengers is Speed Seeker, who won an optional $62,500 claimer here Dec. 12, and Lovely Loyree, who will be making her first start since beating fellow Illinois-breds in the $50,000 Stickney Handicap at Hawthorne in October.

In the fifth race, Conquest Tsunami is a 10-1 morning-line shot in a field of eight and will have Manny Cruz aboard for the first time. The 4-year-old Stormy Atlantic colt won two stakes at Woodbine and the Street Sense Stakes at Churchill Downs as a juvenile in 2014 before chipping a knee in the Grade 3 Delta Jackpot. That injury limited him to two starts last year, and he finished off the board in both stakes.

“He was a brilliant 2-year-old, and he’s training as good as he ever has,” Casse said. “He looks wonderful. He just hasn’t been competitive in his couple of starts back. We’re just kind of looking for a race to get him going.”

The 5-2 morning-line favorite is Special Envoy, the runner-up in the Grade 3 Cliff Hanger Stakes at Monmouth in August who will be making his first start since September. The field also includes Dannhauser, who won an optional $32,000 claimer here Dec. 20, and Ghost Hunter, who would be returning on short rest after finishing second in an optional $62,500 claimer here last Wednesday.