Mark Casse

Gretzky the Great earned the first black-type win for his first-crop sire (by Uncle Mo) as he eventually wore down frontrunner Into the Sunrise to prevail in Woodbine's Soaring Free S. Sunday afternoon. Second to favored Ready to Repeat going five panels over the local lawn July 12, the bay broke through by daylight over a rained-off six furlongs Aug. 2. Away well from the outside five hole, Gretzky the Great skated along out in the clear in second as Into the Sunrise enjoyed a clear lead and Ready to...

Champion Uni (More Than Ready) and MGISW Got Stormy (Get Stormy) continue their rivalry Saturday as they look to continue dominating their male counterparts in Saratoga's GI Fourstardave H. The two chestnuts met for the first time in last year's renewal of this event, in which Got Stormy was a 2 1/2-length victress over the re-opposing Raging Bull (Fr) (Dark Angel {Ire}) with Uni in third. After that Got Stormy went to the GI Woodbine Mile, hoping to follow in the famous hoofprints of fellow Mark Casse trainee Tepin (Bernstein),...

Trainer Mark Casse and the other class of 2020 inductees to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame will have to wait another year to give their official acceptance speeches because the COVID-19 pandemic postponed this year's ceremony. But on Sunday, as a panelist among globally recognized trainers at the 68th annual Round Table Conference hosted remotely by The Jockey Club, Casse spoke with passion in a wide-ranging discussion that touched on problems plaguing the sport from a trainer's perspective. The words he uttered might not have been...

68th Annual Round Table Conference hosted by The Jockey Club Purses subsidized by gaming revenue and a vastly expanded menu of claiming conditions were initially thought to be positive changes that would be a boon to Thoroughbred racing when racinos changed the North American landscape 30 years ago. Now, decades later, some horse people and industry stakeholders are starting to question whether chasing vastly inflated purses under narrowly defined race conditions is incentivizing a harmful cycle of behavior that over time imperils equine health, creates short fields, cheapens the betting...

The Jockey Club's 68th annual Round Table Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing will be held virtually Sunday due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The conference will discuss the need for reform in medication rules and testing, challenges faced by the Thoroughbred industry and insights into the claiming system and will be streamed on The Jockey Club's website jockeyclub.com beginning at 10 a.m. The event will also be aired on TVG and Racetrack Television Network platforms. "While we are disappointed that we cannot host an in-person event, we are excited by...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency DAUGHTER OF WINTER MEMORIES DEBUTS AT THE SPA 2nd-SAR, $72K, Msw, 2yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 1:44 p.m. Jimmy Toner unveils the latest daughter out of his MGISW pupil Winter Memories (El Prado {Ire}) Sunday in SEASONS (Tapit). A dual Grade I winner in New York, including this venue's Diana S., millionaire Winter Memories is a daughter of MGISW Memories of Silver (Silver Hawk) and a half-sister to GSW La Cloche (Ghostzapper), who in turn produced GSW Bellavais (Tapit). Winter Memories is also the dam of...

6th-Woodbine, C$108,646, Msw, 8-2, 2yo, 6f (AWT) (off turf), 1:09.84, ft. GRETZKY THE GREAT (c, 2, Nyquist--Pearl Turn {MSP, $182,560}, by Bernardini), sent off the hot 1-2 choice, jumped out to an early advantage, led through splits of :22.77 and :45.09 and turned on all boosters late, crossing the wire 4 1/2 lengths ahead of Liars Club (Broken Vow). The Ontario bred kicked off his career for Mark Casse with a second-place effort sprinting five panels over the local turf July 12 behind Ready to Repeat (More Than Ready), who...

Bruce Lundsford's Art Collector (Bernardini), winner of the GII Toyota Blue Grass S. in his latest start, worked over a muddy Churchill Downs track Saturday morning. Trained by Tom Drury, the colt carved out fractions of :12.80 and :24.60 before galloping out five furlongs in 1:01.20 and six panels in 1:14.80. "It's so nice to have a horse who is versatile and can really run over any surface," said Drury. "He did everything very easily this morning and it was really just a perfect work. We are still taking things...

Claiborne Farm has purchased an interest in Classic winner War of Will (War Front--Visions of Clarity {Ire}, by Sadlers Wells), who will stand at the Paris, Kentucky farm upon the conclusion of his racing career. The winner of a trio of a trio of graded events at three, including the GI Preakness S., the Gary Barber-campaigned colt most recently scored in the GI Maker's Mark Mile over the Keeneland turf July 10. War of Will's 2021 stud fee will be announced following the Breeders' Cup. "War of Will has an...

Ten Broeck Farm's Owlette (Frac Daddy) looks to record her fourth stakes win in Saturday's GIII Selene S. at Woodbine. Conditioned by Wesley Ward, the Ontario-bred filly took last year's Shady Well S. and Victorian Queen S. and subsequently won the June 13 Star Shoot S. in her 2020 bow. Never worse than second in six career starts, including four wins over Woodbine's Tapeta, Owlette will be joined for the first time by Luis Contreras. Always armed and dangerous at Woodbine, Mark Casse saddles a pair of fillies for Gary...

Seven sophomore turf sprinters and one entered only in the event the race comes off the main track are set to contest Friday's GIII Quick Call S. at Saratoga, but it looks all over a two-horse test. Jack and Noah (Fr) (Bated Breath {GB}) is the even-money favorite on the morning line and with good reason. A €47,000 Arqana August yearling turned €160,000 Arqana May juvenile purchase by Justin Casse, the gray colt won the six-furlong Atlantic Beach S. at Aqueduct last November, but failed to stay a when sixth...

   The TDN has partnered with Amplify Horse Racing to present "The Next Generation," an ongoing video series featuring young people who were not born into the Thoroughbred business, but are now excelling within the industry. The only thing six-year-old Samantha Bussanich needed was a trip to Calder Race Course with her grandfather to know that racing was the sport for her. Flash forward less than twenty years later, and she's now an alumna of the University of Kentucky, and has made a name for herself in many sectors of...