Kelso Winner Casa Creed Back Home at the Spa

He came, he saw, he conquered. Thursday's TDN featured a story on Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, who brought a barn littered with high-class stakes winners to Saratoga this year. CASA CREED (h, 7, Jimmy Creed–Achalaya, by Bellamy Road) certainly did his part as both Mott's first stakes entrant of the meet and first stakes winner of the meet, taking the GIII Kelso S.–formerly the Forbidden Apple–with ease in his first visit to the winner's circle since last year's GI Fourstardave S. over course and distance.

“It's very rewarding,” said Mott after the Kelso. “Ordinarily, you don't get any more than two seasons out of a horse running at the top level. To have a horse that can run at two, three, and maybe four seasons to run at the very highest level is very good. You don't find those kind.”

Casa Creed is most assuredly one of “those kind.” Although he hasn't won since last August, he was coming off a third in the GI Jaipur S. June 10 at Belmont in his first start of the year after taking that race in both 2021 and 2022. He hasn't shirked any competition, has traveled to Dubai and Saudi Arabia, and has now won seven black-type events, including five graded races and three at the highest level. This is his sixth consecutive season running at the Spa, where he made his first career visit to the winner's circle in an off-the-turf main track maiden in 2018.

#8 Casa Creed takes the G3 Kelso S. at Saratoga under @luissaezpty for trainer Bill Mott! 🏆

🎥 #TwinSpiresReplay pic.twitter.com/IoYnfl3S41

— TwinSpires Racing 🏇 (@TwinSpires) July 15, 2023

“He's a fun horse,” said Mott. “We love to see him run and we try to give him enough time to make sure he's ready to go but at this point in time it doesn't have to be a Grade I. The Fourstardave is and that's a big goal, but to be able to see him and have him compete is great fun.” In addition to winning the Fourstardave last year, Casa Creed was third in the race in both 2020 and 2021. This year's Fourstardave is set for Aug. 12.

A $105,000 Keeneland September yearling who has earned more than 20 times that amount, Casa Creed broke from the outside in the Kelso and settled comfortably a few spots wide as streaking consecutive four-race winner Big Everest (GB) (The Gurkha {Ire}) led the way through a :23.35 first quarter. 'TDN Rising Star' and last year's GI Turf Mile S. winner at Keeneland, Annapolis (War Front), raced in tandem to the inside of Casa Creed, the two several lengths behind Big Everest after a half in :47.07. As the field bunched up going into the far turn, Luis Saez let Casa Creed out a notch and he mowed down the horses in front of him while wide, collared and went by Big Everest with no fuss, then pulled clear all while on his wrong lead. It wasn't until the last few strides that he swapped to his correct lead, but it didn't matter as he had a length on the field as Annapolis chased him home. GSW English Bee (English Channel) finished third.

“He's special,” said Lee Einsidler of co-owner LRE Racing. “He's taken us around the world and he's made a huge difference in our lives, really. When you get into this game, they become part of your family. Life is all about building memories and this is another great one.”

Pedigree Notes:

Three-time GISW Casa Creed is one of five graded winners for Spendthrift Farm's Jimmy Creed, who also has 21 black-type winners. Interestingly, two of the stakes winners by the son of Distorted Humor are out of Bellamy Road mares. The latter has 11 stakes winners out of his daughters, including last year's MGISW Cave Rock (Arrogate).

Unraced Achalaya has been through the sales ring six times, most recently in 2021 at Keeneland November when selling in foal to Authentic. Out of MGSW Wild Heart Dancing (Farma Way) and a half to GISW Man From Wicklow (Turkoman), she brought $725,000 from Thirty Year Farm. That was a far cry from her 2018 trip through the OBS Winter Mixed ring, when she brought $15,000 from Trackside Farm while in foal to Jess's Dream. At the 2018 sale, she was carrying eventual MGSW Chess's Dream in utero while Casa Creed had just turned two and had yet to race. Achalaya has since produced a 2021 colt named Bold Landing (Omaha Beach), who hammered for $775,000 from White Birch Farm at Keeneland September, and a yearling filly by Authentic, who was a $390,000 RNA as a Fasig-Tipton November weanling. She most recently produced a filly by Curlin, born Apr. 30.

Saturday, Saratoga
KELSO S.-GIII, $175,000, Saratoga, 7-15, 4yo/up, 1mT, 1:35.51, fm.
1–CASA CREED, 124, h, 7, by Jimmy Creed
           1st Dam: Achalaya, by Bellamy Road
           2nd Dam: Wild Heart Dancing, by Farma Way
           3rd Dam: Star of Wicklow, by Fast Play
($15,000 Ylg '17 OBSWIN; $105,000 Ylg '17 KEESEP). O-LRE Racing LLC and JEH Racing Stable LLC; B-Silver Springs Stud, LLC (KY); T-William I. Mott; J-Luis Saez. $96,250. Lifetime Record: MGISW, 32-8-5-5, $2,185,308. *1/2 to Chess's Dream (Jess's Dream), GSW, $237,418. Werk Nick Rating: C+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree or free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Annapolis, 124, c, 4, War Front–My Miss Sophia, by Unbridled's Song. 'TDN Rising Star'. O-Bass Racing, LLC; B-Bass Stables, LLC (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher. $35,000.
3–English Bee, 118, g, 7, English Channel–Evil Kitten, by Kitten's Joy. O/B-Calumet Farm (KY); T-H. Graham Motion. $21,000.
Margins: 1, 1 1/4, HD. Odds: 2.25, 0.95, 31.75.
Also Ran: Ice Chocolat (Brz), Big Everest (GB), Filo Di Arianna (Brz), Anaconda. Scratched: Gun It, Mid Day Image.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.