Rain could spoil Conquest Eclipse's planned turf debut
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Conquest Eclipse, who has not started since being eased to the wire in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks last summer at Saratoga, will make her turf debut, weather permitting, in Thursday’s $46,000 allowance feature at Gulfstream Park, scheduled to be run at 1 1/8 miles. The local forecast was calling for a nearly 100 percent chance of rain Wednesday.
Conquest Eclipse was Grade 1-placed twice at 2 when stabled in Southern California but made only three starts during her abbreviated 3-year-old campaign, which ended after her disappointing performance in the CCA Oaks.
“She just wasn’t right and was pulled up in the Coaching Club, although we really never found a whole lot of anything wrong with her once we brought her home,” said trainer Mark Casse. “She did have a little issue with her air, but we took care of that.”
Although she’s had almost all of her success on dirt, Casse said he will not run Conquest Eclipse on Thursday if the race comes off the turf.
“She’s worked well on the grass, and I’ve always wanted to try her on grass,” said Casse. “I just wish it was a little shorter distance to come back at. But I won’t try to bring her back off the layoff going a mile and one-eighth on the dirt. It’s so much tougher on a horse returning like that on dirt than turf. I’ve always equated it to being like running another eighth of a mile on the dirt as opposed to turf.”
Thursday’s main event drew a field of 10, with Gap Year and Bishop’s Pond the only members of the lineup aside from Conquest Eclipse with any experience in graded stakes. Gap Year, who finished seventh in the Grade 1 Alcibiades at 2, returned to the main track for her 2015 finale, finishing sixth in the Grade 3 Valley View at Keeneland in a race switched from the turf to the main track. She defeated first-level allowance competition on grass last summer at Saratoga.
Bishop’s Pond has finished off the board in three consecutive starts since posting back-to-back turf victories at Belmont Park and Saratoga in the spring and summer of her 3-year-old season.
Four members of the lineup – Five Hearts, Resilient One, J. Quirk, and Glorious Chant – are coming off victories against lesser allowance opposition. Glorious Chant snapped a long losing streak by virtue of the stewards who disqualified the winner of a first-level allowance race at Laurel in her final start before shipping south for the winter.
KEY CONTENDERS
Conquest Eclipse (Last 3 Beyers: 22-78-80)
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: Over the past five years, Casse owns a 14 percent success rate, with a return on investment of $1.66, with horses racing on turf for the first time. He also has won with 16 percent of his starters returning from layoffs of 61 to 180 days at distances of a mile and beyond during that period.
Gap Year (Last 3 Beyers: 77-89-90)
◗ She defeated a field that included recent stakes winner Fila Primera when capturing her entry-level allowance condition at Saratoga.
Bishop’s Pond (Last 3 Beyers: 65-90-90)
◗ She had some excuses, racing over yielding ground and getting bothered after the break, when running poorly in her 3-year-old finale Nov. 12 at Aqueduct.
Resilient One (Last 3 Beyers: 78-84-61)
◗ She’s won two of her three starts over the local course and is one of only two members of this field, along with Al’s Gal, who has a victory over the Gulfstream turf.