Conquest Panthera likely to run in Woodbine Mile

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Mark Casse recorded his meet-leading ninth stakes win of the season Saturday when Conquest Panthera got by pacesetter Dowse’s Beach in the final strides to win the Grade 2 Play the King Stakes. Casse will likely run two horses in next month’s Grade 1, $800,000 Woodbine Mile, including World Approval, who won the Grade 1 Fourstardave Handicap at Saratoga on Aug. 12.

Conquest Panthera recorded his first graded stakes score in the seven-furlong Play the King, and was cutting back in distance following a third-place finish going 1 1/16 miles in the Grade 2 Wise Dan Stakes at Churchill Downs on June 17. Earlier in the season, he finished third in two other graded stakes, including in the Grade 1 Maker’s 46 Mile Stakes at Keeneland in April.

Casse credited jockey Patrick Husbands for keeping Conquest Panthera in the clear in the Play the King.

“In some of those mile races and those two-turn races on shorter tracks, you can get in a little trouble,” he said. “He’s not the easiest horse to steer. Patrick did a great job with him.”

Conquest Panthera is now 2 for 2 on the Woodbine turf, a course that Casse believes suits the son of Kitten’s Joy well.

“I thought his race was big,” he said. “Given how well he likes Woodbine, it would be kind of foolish for him to go somewhere else. He’s not easy to ride, but he’s a little easier to ride at Woodbine.”

The Play the King was marred by the death of 2014 Canadian champion sprinter Calgary Cat, who collapsed following the race. Calgary Cat won 10 of his 25 starts for trainer Kevin Attard and owners Stephen Chesney and Cory Hoffman, who claimed him for $25,000 in November 2013. Seven of those wins came in stakes races, including the Grade 2 Nearctic Stakes, Grade 2 Kennedy Road Stakes, and the Grade 3 Bold Venture Stakes.