Casse's barn targets variety of stakes

Mark Casse, fresh off capturing the training title at the prestigious Keeneland spring meet, has a lot on his plate as the Woodbine meet gears up. He said the upwardly mobile turf expert Kaigun might start June 7 in the Grade 1 Manhattan Invitational at Belmont rather than returning home for the Grade 2 Connaught Cup over seven furlongs May 31. Kaigun finished second and fourth behind Wise Dan in his last two outings, both in Grade 1 races in Kentucky.

“I want to bring him to Woodbine, but the Connaught is too short for him,” Casse said. “Right now, it appears that we’re going to go to the Manhattan. We gelded him after he won his turf race last year, and he’s turned out to be a really good horse. I’m really proud of him. It looks like he’s one of the better turf horses in the country.”

Next weekend, Casse is slated to run Dynamic Impact in the Grade 1 Preakness at Pimlico, while My Conquestadory and Madly Truly make their season debuts here in the Grade 3 Selene Stakes.

“My Conquestadory has been training extremely well,” Casse said. “If she were to run well, we could look at other things all over the place.”

Casse has a host of nominees for the Grade 2 Nassau Stakes here May 25, most notably last year’s Canadian champion older female, Sisterly Love, who’s exiting a gutsy score in the Grade 3 Doubledogdare Stakes at Keeneland. She would be making her first turf start in the one-turn mile.

Casse said Northern Passion also is headed for the Nassau off a belated fifth in a one-mile allowance at Keeneland following a nine-month break.

“I thought her race was really good,” he said. “A mile might be a little short for her, but she came back and trained really well.”

The flashy 4-year-old Constantino, who graduated first time out in a six-furlong maiden special weight race last Sunday, is one of several horses Casse has for a new client, Conrad Stable.

“We got him this winter, and he trained like a good horse,” Casse said. “We thought he would run well, but we thought he would want to go farther. He got lucky and got through along the rail and won. If he stays happy and healthy, he’s going to get better and better. We got four or five from [Conrad Stable] this winter, and they have some runners. It’s worked out well so far.”