Enforceable Gives Casse Back-to-Back Lecomte Victories
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Photo: Hodges Photography/Amanda Hodges Weir
Enforceable wins the Lecomte Stakes at Fair Grounds Race Course
Trainer Mark Casse won the past two Triple Crown races, and he helped his cause toward a hat trick in a familiar setting.
After taking the Lecomte Stakes (G3) a year ago with Preakness Stakes (G1) winner War of Will, Casse made it two in a row in the 1 1/16-mile stakes for 3-year-olds as John Oxley's Enforceable rallied six wide on the final turn and surged to a 1 1/2-length victory in the $200,000 Lecomte Jan. 18 at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.
As part of the Road to the Kentucky Derby, the Lecomte provided Enforceable with 10 points in the chase for starting spots in the opening leg of the Triple Crown and gave him 13 overall. The full brother to multiple graded stakes winner Mohaymen (Tapit —Justwhistledixie, by Dixie Union) picked up points from a fourth-place finish in the Nov. 30 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) in his previous start and a third in the Claiborne Breeders' Futurity (G1) before that.
"It's nice to win the Lecomte again, but I was concerned," Casse said. "How many times do you see a horse make a big, wide move and flatten out? But he's changed. He was a big, gangly teenage boy and now he's a man, and he's a man with a big pedigree."
Enforceable showed some late speed while rallying wide in both the Kentucky Jockey Club and Breeders' Futurity, but was unable to get any closer than two lengths of the winner in those 1 1/16-mile races. Yet Saturday, while making a similar move, Enforceable showed the step forward he has taken from 2 to 3 while surging to the front and fending off a late bid from 3-1 co-favorite Silver State.
"He's a tough horse to train," Casse said. "I told Mr. Oxley when (Enforceable) was a 2-year-old that he might be a good horse, and it's sure taken a long time for him to prove it. He's a beautiful horse with a big pedigree, and he's just had to learn. It's similar to Sir Winston (the Casse-trained winner of the 2019 Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets, G1), who took a while.
"We do things differently than most people. I like running them and letting them learn. He had a lot of trouble in his last race and could have easily won. (Assistant trainer) David Carroll has had him at Fair Grounds with our division there, and he's been telling me every day that this horse is getting better and better. And David is not one to throw accolades around lightly. He's a great horseman, and when he says things, I believe him. Going in, I felt if Enforceable shows up, they will have to beat him."
Enforceable surely has pedigree on his side as his dam's catalog page is overflowing with black type. Aside from Mohaymen, a winner of four grade 2 stakes, another full brother, Kingly, is a grade 3 winner on turf. Of Justwhistledixie's five offspring to run, four are graded stakes winners, including Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) winner New Year's Day, the sire of 2019 Horse of the Year finalist Maximum Security.
Casse's brother, Justin, played a big role in acquiring the Kentucky-bred colt from his breeders, Clearsky Farms. Mark Casse said he expected the colt to sell for more than $1 million at the 2018 Keeneland September Yearling Sale and did not monitor the bidding. When Enforceable was a $775,000 RNA, Justin Casse approached Clearsky and paved the way for Oxley to purchase the gray colt privately.
"We're keeping our fingers crossed about this one," Mark Casse said. "We're excited."
A large field of 13 turned out for the first of two Fair Grounds preps leading up to March 21 and the $1 million TwinSpires.com Louisiana Derby (G2), and Bango and Shashashakemeup used their speed from outside posts to battle for the early lead on the backstretch as jockey Julien Leparoux bided his time in 11th with Enforceable.
Shashashakemeup still led at the top stretch, with Mr. Monomoy, the half brother to champion Monomoy Girl, moving through inside of him. But moving swiftly from the outside, Enforceable darted past them before the eighth pole and then maintained a clear lead to the wire over the late-charging Silver State from trainer Steve Asmussen's barn.
Enforceable ($15.60) finished in 1:43.72 and will most likely resurface in the Risen Star Stakes Presented by Lamarque Ford-Lincoln (G2) Feb. 15 at Fair Grounds, another race War of Will won last year.
"We'll stay in New Orleans. We like it there," Casse said.
Winchell Thoroughbreds and Willis Horton Racing's Silver State, bidding to give Asmussen his 1,001st stakes winner one race after the Hall of Fame trainer recorded his milestone stakes win with Finite in the Silverbulletday Stakes, was second. The son of Hard Spun finished a neck in front of Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, and Doheny Racing Stable's Mr. Monomoy, a Palace Malice 3-year-old.
Arnaldo Monge and Rey Hernandez's Finnick the Fierce was fourth by a nose over Joseph Sutton's Scabbard, the 3-1 co-favorite who was making his first start since finishing fourth in the TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile.
The second through fourth finishers received 4-2-1 Kentucky Derby qualifying points.
Adding to the joy of the afternoon for Casse, his son, Norman, also trained a stakes winner on the Fair Grounds card, taking the Colonel E. R. Bradley Stakes with Dontblamerocket.
"It was a great day for the family," said Mark Casse, whose day also included stakes win in the Sunshine Millions Turf Stakes at Gulfstream Park with March to the Arch and the Gasparilla Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs with Two Sixty.