Tepin invades for Just a Game

ELMONT, N.Y. – Tepin affirmed her status as a rising star in the female turf ranks with a victory last month in the Grade 2 Churchill Distaff Turf Mile at her home base. She now takes her show on the road against a strong home team in the Grade 1, $700,000 Just a Game Stakes at a mile Saturday on the Belmont turf.

Tepin may have found her niche on the lawn but already has established herself as a versatile filly who doesn’t need to carry her track with her. The daughter of Bernstein was a Grade 3 winner on dirt as a juvenile but also owns a win on the Keeneland Polytrack, prompting trainer Mark Casse to try her on turf midway through her 3-year-old campaign in 2014.

“We knew all along we were going to try her on grass because of her pedigree and the way she ran on the Poly,” said Norman Casse, assistant to his father. “We thought her turn of foot would be more effective on grass, and it has been.”

In Tepin’s first turf try, she finished eighth in a roughly run edition of the Grade 3 Regret Stakes at Churchill. She traveled to California to run a creditable second in the Grade 2 San Clemente Handicap before finishing eighth in the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks, emerging with “a little issue” that sent her to the sidelines. Coming off the seven-month layoff, she won an optional-claiming event in March at Gulfstream Park, then came back to win the Distaff Turf Mile on May 2 over Coffee Clique and Sandiva.

“She’s finally getting to run” without interruptions in her training, Casse said. “It’s a Grade 1. We’re in the real big leagues now, but we feel she deserves a chance. She’s training the way she needs to train.”

Tepin drew post 9 under Julien Leparoux in a field of 10. She faces a group with a proven affinity for Belmont in Ball Dancing, Discreet Marq, and the defending Just a Game winner Coffee Clique, all Grade 1 winners.

The morning-line favorite is Ball Dancing, a minor stakes winner in France before coming under trainer Chad Brown’s care to win the Grade 2 Sands Point Stakes at Belmont. She added the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley Stakes in April at Keeneland.

“I don’t think the cut back to a mile will bother her,” Brown said. “We cut her back successfully to one and one-sixteenth in the Jenny Wiley, and she should be able to cut back a touch farther.”

Discreet Marq defends her home turf. Her victory in the Grade 3 Beaugay Stakes last month in her season debut was her fifth stakes score at Belmont.

“She’s a fun filly at Belmont,” trainer Christophe Clement said. “She seems to always run pretty well at Belmont. She trained very well for [the Beaugay]. She’s very versatile. She can go to the lead, be sitting off the pace, whatever makes sense. For the jockey, it’s nice because you have the speed to do whatever you want.”

Coffee Clique capped a brief but successful 2014 campaign with a win in the Just a Game. Sidelined by bone bruising, she makes her third start off the layoff after finishing third in the Grade 2 Honey Fox Stakes and second in the Distaff Turf Mile.

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Key contenders

Tepin (Last 3 Beyers: 100-90-71)

* Versatile filly makes first trip to New York.

* Her Beyer Speed Figure of 100 last out was a career best and is one of only two triple-digit numbers in this field.

Ball Dancing (Last 3 Beyers: 95-95-90)

* Grade 2 winner at Belmont last season.

Discreet Marq (Last 3 Beyers: 93-91-96)

* Owns an 8-5-1-1 record at Belmont, all in stakes company.

Coffee Clique (Last 3 Beyers: 97-94-98)

* Unbeaten last year, including Just a Game score. Twice placed in graded company this season.

Filimbi (Last 3 Beyers: 89-87-99)

* Owns field’s top Beyer with a 101.

* Allowance winner at Belmont is multiple Grade 1 placed, including a runner-up effort in the Jenny Wiley last out.