Neepawa takes them all the way in Breeders' Stakes

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Neepawa ran them off their feet under Jerome Lermyte in Saturday’s $400,400 Breeders’ Stakes at Woodbine, giving trainer Mark Casse a sweep of this year’s Canadian Triple Crown.

Neepawa ($6.80) relished the yielding ground in the 1 1/2-mile marathon for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds. He went straight to the front, and set quick early fractions of 24.49 and 49.98 seconds while traveling uphill. Eskiminzin took up the chase in second under Sheena Ryan, but Neepawa maintained a clear lead throughout, and then coasted home by 3 1/2 lengths in a time of 2:31.18.

Say the Word rallied inside from fourth to finish second, and Flight Deck closed four wide to edge out Eskiminzin for third. The favored Aheadbyacentury never fired while finishing far back in eighth in the nine-horse field.

“The plan was to keep him comfortable,” Lermyte said of the winner. “He went to the lead. He actually jumped something, but then he relaxed quite a bit. Even though I was going a little bit faster than I was planning on, the main thing was I wanted him to be comfortable so he can produce his best at the end.”

Neepawa, by the late super sire Scat Daddy, earned $240,000 in his first stakes victory for owner-breeder Chiefswood Stables. Chiefswood general manager, Robert Landry, predicted beforehand that the colt possessed sufficient stamina for the task at hand, and it was just a case of letting him run his race.

“Jerome and I had spoken this morning, and Mark. We had a bit of a powwow,” Landry said. “We thought if this guy could get into a nice, happy stride, which he did, that he’d have no problem with the distance. Jerome did a great job on him.”

Neepawa was the second Breeders’ winner sent out by Casse, who won it in 2007 with Marchfield. Casse captured the first two Triple Crown races, the Queen’s Plate and Prince of Wales Stakes, with Wonder Gadot.