Casse well stocked for all three stakes

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Leading trainer Mark Casse is sending out contenders in all three 1 1/16-mile Woodbine stakes on Sunday, including 2019 Belmont Stakes winner Sir Winston and Seagram Cup victor Tap It to Win in the Grade 3, $150,000 Durham Cup.

Sir Winston returned from a layoff of nearly a year to win a conditioned allowance route over a good field here Aug. 19, after which Casse bypassed the Sept. 11 Seagram Cup with the Tracy Farmer homebred.

“He was in Dubai last year and was ready to run in the big race before they canceled it,” Casse said. “We brought him back and he trained okay, but he wasn’t himself. We ran him a couple of times and he wouldn’t even try. We sent him home to the Farmers’ farm, and gave him time off. His last effort was so big that I didn’t feel it was the right thing to rush him back into that last stakes. I gave him plenty of time, and he’s come back to train very well. If things go well, I have big plans for him.”

Tap It to Win outran favored Mighty Heart for the lead in the Grade 3 Seagram Cup and never looked back to prevail with a 96 Beyer Speed Figure under Rafael Hernandez.

“I called Rafael the morning of the race and told him to send him,” Casse said. “He’s an extremely talented horse. He’s just got a lot of quirks. If he throws his big race, he’s tough.”

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Mighty Heart, Halo Again, and Special Forces complete the Durham field.

Half Casse in Ontario Matron

Casse entered half of the six fillies and mares in the Grade 3, $150,000 Ontario Matron – Skygaze, Crystal Glacier, and Art of Almost.

Skygaze notched her first stakes by three lengths over Crystal Glacier in the Sept. 12 Belle Mahone, in which Art of Almost finished a fading fourth.

“Skygaze has always been very talented,” Casse said. “I thought she showed her talent in her last race. Crystal Glacier wants more ground. It would be nice to win, but it’s more of a prep for the Maple Leaf Stakes. Art of Almost is only going to run another time or two, and that will be it for her career.”

Pair in Cup and Saucer

Casse sends out Fast Feet and God of Love in the $250,000 Cup and Saucer, which lured 11 Canadian-bred 2-year-olds who will compete over a main turf course that should have some give to it.

The aptly named Fast Feet wired maiden special opposition going a mile on the inner turf in his Sept. 8 debut.

“He was very professional,” Casse said. “It was nice that he brought his ‘A’ game that day.”

God of Love was a slow-starting seventh in his Sept. 12 opener, a 5 1/2-furlong maiden special on the main track.

“He got away really bad,” Casse said. “It looked like he wasn’t going to run at all. The last part of it he rallied some, and then after the race, he ran off. We’ve felt like he’s fairly talented.”

Trainer Danny Vella entered the first- and third-place finishers from the Sept. 17 Bull Page Stakes for Ontario-sired males – Where’s Neal and Spring Mountain. Over a firm inner course, Where’s Neal led all the way in the one-mile Bull Page, while Spring Mountain rallied for third after losing contact with the field on the far turn.

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“I’m a little worried about the turf being too soft for [Where’s Neal],” Vella said. “He’s a lighter-boned horse. I’m not sure he’ll handle a soft turf as good as Spring Mountain, who’s a big-footed horse. A soft turf might help him.”

Among the others in the Cup and Saucer lineup are the Kevin Attard-trained duo of Hidden Honor and Chairman Bob, along with Sam-Son Farm’s Dancin in Da’nile, a debut winner for trainer Gail Cox.

◗ Casse is running Grade 1 Summer Stakes runner-up Grafton Street in a 1 1/16-mile maiden special on the Tapeta on Sunday as a prep for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar.

“He’s pretty well insured a spot in the Breeders’ Cup because he’s placed in a Grade 1,” Casse said. “I could have run him in the Bourbon” – at Keeneland – “but then I would have had to ship him to Kentucky. I already know he’s a good turf horse. My thought was to leave him at home and get a two-turn race into him. He’s trained good enough on the Tapeta that [he surface] shouldn’t be a concern.”