Tepin takes big step toward Endeavour Stakes

OLDSMAR, Fla. – Tepin, who won an Eclipse Award as North America’s top female turf runner of 2015, moved closer to her 5-year-old debut by breezing five furlongs in 1:01.65 under Julien Leparoux at Palm Meadows on Monday. Tepin is being pointed toward the Grade 3, $150,000 Endeavour Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile turf race for older fillies and mares at Tampa Bay Downs on Feb. 13.

Trainer Mark Casse said Tepin galloped out six furlongs in about 1:13 and pulled up seven-eighths in about 1:28.

“Tepin worked super this morning,” Casse said. “Today was a big step toward the Endeavour. She worked on the dirt because they’ve had so much rain, we haven’t been able to work on the grass, but she worked really well, and, more importantly, she galloped out really well. Julien was on her, and he was all smiles. She’s actually not a bad dirt horse, but she’s a great turf horse.”

Tepin, a Bernstein mare owned by Robert E. Masterson, hasn’t run since beating males in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Keeneland on Oct. 31 to cap a campaign in which she went 5 for 7, with two runner-up finishes. Six of those races came in graded stakes, and she won the Grade 1 First Lady, Grade 1 Just a Game, and Grade 2 Distaff Turf Mile.

Casse also said that R Girls a Charmer came out of her four-length victory in the $82,500 Gasparilla Stakes here Saturday in good shape and likely will start in the Grade 2, $200,000 Davona Dale Stakes for 3-year-old fillies going a mile at Gulfstream on Feb. 27.

The seven-furlong Gasparilla was R Girls a Charmer’s first start for Casse and owner Gary Barber, who purchased the filly following her front-running, 6 3/4-length victory in a $47,000 maiden special weight race at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 2. The In Summation filly now has two wins and a runner-up finish in three starts and has set the pace in each of her races.

“One thing about her, she is one fast horse,” Casse said.

◗ Morning Fire is targeting the Grade 3, $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes after scoring by 1 1/2 lengths in the $63,500 Pasco Stakes here Saturday for trainer Keith Nations. The seven-furlong Pasco marked the first stakes win for Morning Fire, a Pennsylvania-bred son of Friesan Fire who had finished second in all four of his stakes tries as a 2-year-old in 2015, including three restricted stakes in his home state.

The Sam F. Davis Stakes will be run here Feb. 13 and is for 3-year-olds going 1 1/16 miles. It’s a prep race for the biggest event of the meet, the Grade 2, $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby on March 12.