Casse youngsters loom large in Cup and Saucer, Algonquin
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ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Mark Casse sends out contenders in both 2-year-old stakes on Sunday at Woodbine – the promising Military Time in the $250,000 Cup and Saucer and the speedy Casson in the $175,000 Algonquin.
Military Time was a $350,000 Keeneland yearling purchase by movie mogul Gary Barber and Florida Panthers owner Vinnie Viola’s St Elias Stable. Debuting in a 6 1/2-furlong maiden special weight that was switched from turf to the Tapeta Aug. 31, he broke awkwardly before closing fast from fourth to assume command in the stretch en route to a four-length score for which he got a solid 80 Beyer Speed Figure.
Military Time was a late scratch from the Grade 1 Summer on Sept. 13 due to a shoe problem.
“He sprung his shoe and stepped on it,” Casse recalled. “About an hour and a half before the race, he was ready to run and jumped on himself in the stall and pulled the shoe partly off.”
Military Time is by the outstanding dirt route sire Gun Runner. The Ontario-bred is the first foal from Red Cabernet, a stakes-winning router on turf and Tapeta at Woodbine.
“We love him,” Casse said of Military Time. “We think he’s a pretty good horse.”
Nine other Canadian-breds were entered in the 1 1/16-mile inner turf event, including Dixie Law and the Kevin Attard-trained trio of Buium, Thundermaker, and Twentytwo Soles.
Dixie Law, trained by Dale Desruisseaux, is taking on the boys off a wide sixth-place finish in the Grade 1 Natalma.
Algonquin Stakes
Desruisseaux also trains Highwaytothemoon, who’s making his first turf start among a field of seven in the five-furlong Algonquin.
Highwaytothemoon was favored in both of his starts on the Tapeta. After taking his five-furlong opener in an auction maiden special weight, he ran third in the $201,000 Simcoe Stakes going 6 1/2 furlongs for graduates of Canadian yearling sales on Aug. 24, a result with which Desruisseaux was disappointed.
“We got trapped down along the inside and had nowhere to go until the eighth pole and then didn’t really kick on from there,” Desruisseaux said. “That was likely because [jockey Rafael Hernandez] was fighting him for a half-mile being in behind horses. We thought it was his race to win, but that’s horse racing.”
As for Casson, he won his first two outings on Tapeta, including the 5 1/2-furlong Victoria Stakes in July. He went on to run second to favored Two Out Hero in the 6 1/2-furlong Soaring Free Stakes on the main turf. Casson failed to stay a mile most recently when sixth in the Grade 1 Summer, which swayed Casse to cut him back to sprinting.
The George Weaver-trained Cy Fair could go favored off his superb Saratoga sprint form that included a neck loss in the Bolton Landing Stakes. Rogue Legend, based at Keeneland with trainer Wesley Ward, ran third in each of his last two starts, most notably in the June 18 Windsor Castle Stakes at the prestigious Royal Ascot meet.
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