By Tim Wilkin
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – In the fall of every year, Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse is out on the recruiting trail. He looks for the best four-legged athletes he can find. He goes to Lexington to seek out young talent.
If Thursday's sixth race at Saratoga Race Course– a $100,000 maiden special weight at 5 1/2 furlongs on the Mellon Turf–is any indication, coach Casse may have found a couple of blue chippers at the 2023 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.
Tracy Farmer's Abientot (Not This Time) finished strongly to win the race for 2-year-old fillies by a half-length over her stablemate, Gary Barber's Will Reign (War of Will). Both horses went off at odds of 5-1 in the field of 10.
“I try to bring some of my better young horses here,” Casse said after pictures were taken in the Saratoga winner's circle. “If you see me bringing them, it shows you they have shown me something where I feel they deserve a shot up here. It doesn't always work.”
For the most part, things have worked out just fine this year for Casse and his young horses. According to Equibase, Casse has now won 16 races with 2-year-olds this year in 84 starts. Will Reign's runner-up finish gives Casse 11 seconds in baby races.
The process started at Keeneland where Casse takes pride in being able to analyze a young horse and tell if it is one that might help him down the road.
“I just thought they were both athletes,” Casse said when he saw both Abientot and Will Reign at Keeneland. “When I look at horses, it doesn't matter if they are big, small, tall, long … I just look for athletes and pedigrees. I have been doing this for 45 years. When you write an article, you know when it's a good article or a bad one. Tina [Casse's wife] goes with me and we make a $300,000, $400,000 or $500,000 decision on a horse after looking at it for two or three minutes. It's what I do. To me, the recruiting is what I enjoy the most.”
In the case of Abientot, Casse said that owner Farmer enlists a team to look at horses at the Keeneland sale.
“Then they come to me and I say yes or no to them,” Casse said.
There was more sentiment involved with Will Reign, whose sire War of Will won the 2019 GI Preakness Stakes for the Casse/Barber team and also was victorious on the lawn, winning the GI Maker's Mile Stakes at Keeneland in 2020.
“We went out and bought a bunch of War of Wills because we felt like Gary Barber wanted to give him his best shot, and we did that,” Casse said.
Abientot, who was ridden by Dylan Davis, was one of three fillies in the race to have started. She took the lead inside the sixteenth pole and then had enough left to hold off her rallying stablemate.
The final time was 1:03.22 and Abientot paid $13.20. She was bred by Killora Stud, LLC.
“It's a huge advantage,” Casse said when asked what having already raced means. “It's why I try to get starts into them. I figure for a horse that hasn't started, they need to be about 15% better than horses that have started.”
Abientot will likely return to the Spa in the Bolton Landing Stakes Aug. 18. Casse will look for another maiden event for Will Reign, who was ridden Thursday by Flavien Prat.
Both horses did what Casse had hoped they would do when he first eyeballed them at the Keeneland sale. They showed athleticism, they showed promise. And one got to the winner's circle.
“The filly that won is a little thing,” Casse said. “I said to the valet, 'I can't see over many when I saddle.' You know they are not very big if I can see over them. But, if size meant anything, a rabbit could not outrun a cow.”
6th-Saratoga, $100,000, Msw, 7-18, 2yo, f, 5 1/2fT, 1:03.22, fm, 1/2 length.
ABIENTOT (f, 2, Not This Time–Ready Ready Ready, by More Than Ready) was fourth in her six-furlong debut over the Aqueduct turf June 21. The 5-1 shot settled in mid-pack down the backstretch. She rolled into contention with a five-wide move into the stretch and found her best gear late to spurt to the lead and hold off the late-rushing Will Reign (War of Will) by a half-length. Favored Brindi (Ire) (No Nay Never) was third. Good Conduct (Without Parole {GB}) trailed for much of the contest and made a strong belated rally to be fifth. Abientot, a $210,000 Keeneland September yearling, is a half-sister to Mr. Hustle (Declaration of War), Ch. 2yo Colt-Can, MSW-Can, SP-USA, $303,589; and to Malibu Coast (Malibu Moon), GSP, $139,300. Ready Ready Ready, who was purchased by Killora Stud with Abientot in utero for $130,000 at the 2021 Keeneland November sale, produced a colt by Nyquist last year and was bred back to Uncle Mo. The mare is a half-sister to the late graded winner Laoban (Uncle Mo). Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV. Lifetime Record: 2-1-0-0, $60,400.
O-Tracy Farmer; B-Killora Stud, LLC (KY); T-Mark E. Casse.
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