Tepin breezes ahead of Royal Ascot trip

The champion Tepin, who has been targeting the Royal Ascot meeting next month, got back on the work tab Saturday at Churchill Downs, covering five furlongs in 1:01.60.

With regular jockey Julien Leparoux aboard, Tepin worked solo shortly after the track opened and without Lasix or a nasal strip, neither of which she will be permitted to use overseas, which trainer Mark Casse has expressed concerns about, particularly in the case of the nasal strip. She turned in splits of 12.60 seconds and 36.60 and galloped out in 1:14.60.

“She went good,” Leparoux said. “She was making a bit of noise, like usual, but maybe a bit more, but she went good, nice and easy.”

An Ascot representative indicated that Tepin’s connections have expressed concerns about the equipment modification.

“They have mentioned the nasal strip before,” Nick Smith, Ascot’s director of international racing and communications, told the Racing Post. “It’s not something new. They need to decide how important it is to the horse, but they are fully aware you can't use one in this country. They confirmed at the second payment stage on Tuesday. From that, you would logically assume they want to travel.”

Tepin would take a six-race winning streak, including the Breeders' Cup Mile, into the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes, the feature on the June 14 opening card of the Royal Ascot meeting. This was her first work since her repeat victory in the Grade 2 Churchill Distaff Turf Mile on the Kentucky Derby undercard May 7.

"She doesn't do anything fancy anymore," Norm Casse, assistant trainer to his father, said of the work. "Since she's matured, she kind of does what she needs to do. It was a very typical work for her. Just nice and even, galloped out well. It used to be you'd have to purposely try to slow her down. But as she's gotten more professional, she's much more relaxed and just does things easier than she used to.”

This was the first of two planned works for Tepin before traveling to England. The mare is expected to breeze again next Friday, weather permitting, before shipping early the following week. She will be boarded at trainer David Lanigan's yard in Newmarket.

Tepin will face a number of challenges as she heads overseas, including the long trip, a straight one-mile course, equipment tweaks, and a strong international field, although defending race winner Solow has been declared from the race.

"The big thing with this is that her routine's gonna be broken up," Norm Casse said. "That's what I'm most concerned with, not the straight mile or anything like that. Her routine's not gonna be the same."