Louisiana Derby distance better fit for Conquest Windycity

NEW ORLEANS – Distance was the reason that trainer Mark Casse chose the 1 1/8-mile Louisiana Derby over the 1 1/16-mile Rebel Stakes for Conquest Windycity.

“I wanted the extra ground,” Casse said of the Grade 2, $1 million Louisiana Derby, to be run next Saturday at Fair Grounds. Conquest Windycity will be shipped here from Oaklawn Park, where the Grade 2, $900,000 Rebel will be run this Saturday.

“I think the farther he goes, the better he’s going to be,” Casse said of Conquest Windycity, who in his first start as a 3-year-old rallied to win a one-mile allowance for non-winners of two Feb. 19 at Oaklawn by 1 3/4 lengths.

A son of Tiznow and the A.P. Indy mare Lasting Appeal, Conquest Windycity has a long-distance pedigree, and all four of his races have been around two turns. After Conquest Windycity debuted with a runner-up finish in a 1 1/16-mile turf race at Saratoga, Casse gave him a shot as a maiden in the Grade 3 Iroquois on Sept. 12 at Churchill Downs. Conquest Windycity finished fourth in that 1 1/16-mile race, four lengths behind the winner, Cocked and Loaded.

“He had a bit of a rough trip that day,” Casse said. “He still ran really well.”

Back against maidens at 1 1/16 miles on Oct. 2 at Keeneland, Conquest Windycity made a strong late run to win by three-quarters of a length in his last race as a 2-year-old.

Casse said he chose Oaklawn instead of Gulfstream Park for Conquest Windycity’s winter base because Gulfstream’s often speed-favoring surface wouldn’t have suited the colt’s grinding style.

“He doesn’t have a quick turn of foot,” Casse said. “He’s not real fast, but he’s like the Energizer bunny. He just keeps going.”

Casse also will be shipping World Approval from the Palm Meadows Training Center in Florida to run in the Mervin Muniz Memorial, a Grade 2 turf race for older horses on the Louisiana Derby card. World Approval, who won the Grade 3 Saranac and Grade 3 American Derby last year, is coming off a sharp victory against optional-claiming rivals March 5 at Gulfstream in his first start this year.

“If he stays healthy, I think he can be one of the best turf horses in North America this year,” Casse said.