Hovdey: Kaigun takes on Euros and an extra half-mile

About this time every year, the same stories are being told. The leaves turn. The Dodgers lose. And Mark Casse is having the best year of his career.

Trainer Mark Casse, having the best year of his career, was reached Friday after morning work at Churchill Downs and asked what kind of magic spell he would be weaving to win the 1 1/2-mile Canadian International with the classy miler Kaigun. The purse is one million Canadian dollars.

“Actually, I think he’s going to like the distance,” Casse said. “If you look back when we were running him long in races like the Manhattan and the United Nations, those ended up looking like pretty good fields. We’ve had this on our mind for a while, to get him back stretched out.”

The man has a point. During the first part of the 2014 season, Kaigun finished fifth to Main Sequence in the 11-furlong U.N., second to Real Solution in the 10-furlong Manhattan, and before that fourth to Wise Dan in the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic at 1 1/8 miles. And he was never beaten by more than 1 1/2 lengths.

Since then, however, it’s been nothing but the shorter stuff for Kaigun, including a fourth-place finish to Mondialiste in the Woodbine Mile last out. When he takes the field Sunday in Canada’s showcase event, he will be knocking heads with the best of the local long-distance grass runners along with the typical array of salty invaders from a Who’s Who of stables.

Graham Motion, Neil Drysdale, and Bill Mott have sent U.S. representatives, while Sid Attard, Roger Attfield, Mark Frostad, Pat Parente, and Casse fly the home-team banner. If the past is reliable prologue, though, the winner will come from the trio of British invaders trained by Luca Cumani, David Simcock, and Michael Stoute.

“The Europeans win it so often, and I guess it should be no surprise,” Casse said.

In fact, the last five International winners have come from England, Ireland, or France. The last North American runner to win the race was Juddmonte’s Champs Elysses in 2009 for Bobby Frankel and Garrett Gomez.

“We all know that for the most part, the Europeans have the better turf horses,” Casse said. “It’s just a fact. And if you’re going to come to North America and compete on the turf, Woodbine would be your ideal spot because of the layout of the track. The only place we can take a little advantage of them is on courses with tighter turns and a shorter stretch. That doesn’t happen at Woodbine. The best horse wins most of the time there.”

Kaigun has won more than a million dollars for the partnership of MGM chief executive Gary Barber, Toronto attorney Harvey Schwartz, and Tina Casse, the trainer’s wife.

“It was actually Gary’s idea to give the International a try, based on his good races going a distance earlier last year,” Casse said. “But the one partner I listen to more than anybody is my wife, and I’d say that even if she wasn’t sitting right here.”

Something’s been working, that’s for sure. In 2014, Casse finished sixth among North American trainers in purse earnings. This year, he is cooking along in fourth, behind only Todd Pletcher, Chad Brown, and Bob Baffert, with $10.2 million in stable earnings going into the weekend. Casse is also primed for a Breeders’ Cup Mile attack with Tepin, the classy mare who romped in the recent First Lady Stakes at Keeneland.

Kaigun tried the 2014 BC Mile at Santa Anita, to no avail. His most recent win came last November in the Grade 2 Seabiscuit Handicap at Del Mar, where he beat a field that included Za Approval and Tom’s Tribute. Before that, Kaigun missed winning the 2014 Woodbine Mile by only half a length.

“He’s gotten older, and he’s not quite as fast, at least to compete with the best milers,” Casse said. “The other problem with him is he looks like a butterball turkey. He’s a big old heavy horse, and it’s been a chore getting him back to fighting weight.”

Kaigun let himself go while recuperating from an incipient condylar fracture while based at Santa Anita last winter. The Casse crew caught it quickly enough so that surgery was not required, and after a few months at the Casse spa in Ocala, Fla., the 5-year-old was back to the races at Woodbine in July.

“In the meantime, he gained about 200 pounds,” Casse said. “But after Patrick [Husbands] rode him last time in the Mile, he said, ‘He’s back.’ ”

Husbands, an eight-time winner of Canada’s Sovereign Award for outstanding jockey (Casse has won six Sovereign Awards for training), has ridden Kaigun in seven of his last nine starts. Husbands, Casse, and the owners are all shooting for their first win in the Canadian International.

“I wouldn’t even begin to give Patrick any instructions,” Casse said. “We could be hung out just a little from our outside post. But since it’s been a long time since Kaigun’s run this far, I just don’t know how he’s going to react to the early part of it. I’m sure Patrick will get him to where he’s comfortable, and we’ll see if he’s good enough.”