Casse weighs options for Conquest Enforcer

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Conquest Enforcer made an impressive return to the races here May 21, winning the Queenston Stakes by 7 3/4 lengths and earning a 101 Beyer Speed Figure in his first start since October.

“I was very pleased,” trainer Mark Casse said. “He came out of the race great. I don’t think we could have asked for any more. The crazy part is I think he was probably 80 to 85 percent. I had real concerns that he wasn’t ready to run.”

Conquest Enforcer is eligible for the $1 million Queen’s Plate on July 3, but Casse said he hasn’t committed the son of Into Mischief to the race. Casse said he’s debating whether to run Conquest Enforcer in the $150,000 Plate Trial over 1 1/8 miles on Tapeta on June 12 or to wait until Queen’s Plate weekend to run in the Grade 2, $200,000 King Edward Stakes over a mile on turf against older horses July 2.

“It’s probably down to those two races,” he said. “If we are going to pursue the Queen’s Plate, then I don’t think we have any other option but to go to the Plate Trial. It’s just a matter of whether we’re going to. It’s something that is still under discussion and something I need to talk to [owner] Ernie [Semersky] about.

“There’s definitely some advantages and disadvantages to pursuing one, and there’s some advantages and disadvantages to pursuing the other. In the King Edward, a 3-year-old running against older horses is tough, but I think he’s capable of it. If we did run him in the King Edward, then we’d be looking to go south of the border also.”

Casse has another Queen’s Plate contender in Leavem in Malibu, who won his final prep for the Plate on Sunday, defeating older horses in an allowance race.

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