It has been a whirlwind sort of four weeks for the Mark Casse barn.
Though the stable endured recent a cold streak to stop all cold streaks, its star mare Tepin (Bernstein) ventured overseas for a landmark defeat of European-based milers in the G1 Queen Anne S. at Royal Ascot last month; its 2014 Canadian Horse of the Year Lexie Lou (Sligo Bay {Ire}) posted an ultra-game victory in the GII Dancer Smartly S. on the Queen's Plate undercard July 3; and Saturday, its reigning Horse of the Year and U.S. Eclipse Award finalist Catch A Glimpse (City Zip) took her record on grass to a perfect eight out of eight with a pillar-to-post success in the GI Belmont Oaks Invitational on Long Island.
“This has been a dream come true [winning at Royal Ascot with Tepin and a Grade I, $1 million race with Catch a Glimpse],” said Casse's son and assistant Norm Casse. “There's a lot of pressure. This morning I woke up and I was really nervous. But at the end of the day, it's what we wanted, and now we're getting a chance to achieve our dreams. It's very rewarding for Dad, and it's very rewarding for me.”
Norm Casse said that Catch a Glimpse would join Tepin up at Saratoga, with future targets to be decided at a later date.
Saturday, Belmont Park
BELMONT OAKS INVITATIONAL S.-GI, $1,000,000, BEL, 7-9, 3yo, f, 1 1/4mT, 1:59.87, fm.
1–CATCH A GLIMPSE, 121, f, 3, by City Zip
1st Dam: Halo River (MSW, $107,525), by Irish River (Fr)
2nd Dam: All Hallows, by Halo
3rd Dam: Leap Lively, by Nijinsky II
($75,000 Ylg '14 KEESEP). O-Gary Barber, Michael James
Ambler & Windways Farm; B-Branch Equine, LLC (KY); T-Mark
E. Casse; J-Florent Geroux. $535,000. Lifetime Record: HotY,
Ch. 2yo filly & Ch. Grass mare-Can, 9-8-0-0, $1,748,052. *1/2
to Old Forester (Forestry), GSW, $462,632.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Werk Nick
Rating: A.[bullet ad=”warrendale-sold-congratulations-to-all-the-connections”][bullet ad=”woodstock-bred-arrived-and-thrived”][bullet ad=”kbif-g1″]2–Time and Motion, 121, f, 3, Tapit–Ellie's Moment, by Kris S..
O/B-Phillips Racing Partnership (KY); T-James J. Toner.
$185,000.[bullet ad=”crupi-trained”][bullet ad=”darbydan-shell”]3–Coolmore (Ire), 121, f, 3, Galileo (Ire)–You'resothrilling, by
Storm Cat. O-Michael B. Tabor, Mrs. John Magnier & Derrick
Smith; B-You'resothrilling Syndicate (IRE); T-Aidan P. O'Brien.
$100,000.
Margins: HF, 3 3/4, 1HF. Odds: 3.40, 4.20, 16.00.[bullet ad=”irt-shell”]Also Ran: Pricedtoperfection, Harmonize, Auntie Joy, Last Waltz (Ire), Noble Beauty, Decked Out, Magnanime (GB), Secure Access, Land Over Sea, Ballydoyle (Ire). Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
Off the board in a rained-off Saratoga maiden last July, Catch A Glimpse ran the table in her three subsequent appearances when switched to the grass, an August allowance at Woodbine followed by a five-length defeat of 'TDN Rising Star' Gamble's Ghost (Ghostzapper) in the GII Natalma S. and a 3/4-length success over Friday's G1 Falmouth S. victrix Alice Springs (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies' Turf at Keeneland.
The facile winner of Gulfstream's GIII Herecomesthebride S. at Gulfstream in her seasonal bow Feb. 27, the chestnut recorded 3/4-length victories in the GIII Appalachian S. back at Keeneland Apr. 14 and in the GIII Edgewood S. at Churchill three weeks later. In the first of the stable's outside-the-box moves during the month of June, Catch a Glimpse was pointed for a start against the boys in the GIII Penn Mile June 4, and she turned in arguably the best performance of her career–visually and speed-figure wise–to defeat stablemate Airoforce (Colonel John) by 2 1/4 lengths.
The post-time second favorite at odds of 17-5, Catch a Glimpse assumed her customary position at the head of affairs and was able to back down the pace perhaps slightly more than expected when Coolmore (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) brushed the gate at the start and was forced to play catch-up through an opening quarter-mile in a comfortable :24.28. Rated along beautifully by the in-form Florent Geroux, Catch a Glimpse covered her next two furlongs in a very easy :25.08 and still had a clear lead over Coolmore passing the half-mile pole in 1:13.87. Making full use of that mid-race breather, the chestnut began to sneak away once heads were turned for home, carried what appeared to be an unassailable advantage into the final eighth of a mile. She shortened stride and needed the wire, but found it a half-length to the good of Time and Motion, who closed off nicely after racing prominently throughout. Coolmore held for this, but the biggest disappointment of the race was 2-1 favorite Ballydoyle (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who never reached contention and dropped out to trail in last of all.
“She broke very well from the gate and from there I just kept going as fast as I could,” said Geroux, riding in career-best form. “When I asked her to leave from home she gave me a good kick and was very brave all the way to the wire. She was the quickest of the race so it's not like I had an outside post with a horse with no speed. Speed is always dangerous no matter what the distance.”
A half-sister to leading Canadian sire Old Forester, Catch a Glimpse descends from the Paul Mellon family of champion Forest Flower (Green Forest) and treble Grade I winner High Yield (Storm Cat). Catch a Glimpse's dam produced a filly from the first crop of Can the Man (Into Mischief) this past Mar. 19.
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