Belmont Stakes Has Casse Coming Back for More

Winning one Triple Crown race is difficult, two consecutively with different horses even more elusive—putting trainer Mark Casse in select company as he bids for his third straight when Tap It to Win runs in the $1 million Belmont Stakes (G1) June 20 at Belmont Park.

Casse, 59, won the final two-thirds of the series last year when War of Will took the Preakness Stakes (G1) and Sir Winston prevailed in the Belmont. With those victories, he became the first trainer to win consecutive Triple Crown races with different horses since the Bob Baffert-trained Point Given won both the 2001 Preakness and Belmont, and War Emblem later captured the 2002 Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness for him.

D. Wayne Lukas holds the record for the most consecutive victories within the Triple Crown, stringing together six when Tabasco Cat, Thunder Gulch, Timber Country, and Grindstone won classics from 1994-96.

No trainer has won back-to-back Belmonts since Lukas took three in a row with Tabasco Cat (1994), Thunder Gulch (1995), and Editor's Note (1996). Woody Stephens won a record five straight Belmonts from 1982-86.

All these trainers are in the Hall of Fame, with Casse gaining induction this year after being a finalist since 2017 but not previously securing the necessary votes. He is now a member of both the United States and Canadian Halls of Fame.

Due to COVID-19, the Triple Crown order has been altered this year, leaving the Belmont as the first in the 2020 series, ahead of the Sept. 5 Derby and Oct. 3 Preakness.

Asked about this bid for a third straight Triple Crown win, Casse said he had hardly given it a moment's thought as a personal achievement. 

"To be honest, I never look at things like that. It's kind of what helped me make it through 40-plus years of training," he said.

Yet he suspects his victories in the Preakness and Belmont last year contributed to him persuading voters to gain entrance into the Hall of Fame. Though he had long had a compelling résumé—he trained champions Classic Empire , Shamrock Rose, Tepin, and World Approval and is ninth in all-time earnings for North American trainers—his Triple Crown success last year put an exclamation mark on his achievements.

"After we won those two races, I said to my wife (Tina), 'If the voters don't put me in now, I don't know what else I can do,'" he recalled. "I held my breath. Who knows? In all honesty, it probably made me appreciate the award that much more because when I sat down and looked at it and saw how hard it is, it's not easy. It's not easy to get in there."

Nor does a victory from Tap It to Win in Saturday's Belmont appear easy. Curlin Florida Derby (G1) winner Tiz the Law is projected as a heavy favorite for the 1 1/8-mile race, which was reduced in distance this year from 1 1/2 miles to account for the schedule adjustments to the Triple Crown series and the overall stakes calendar for 3-year-olds.

The shorter distance appears to suit Tap It to Win, who has yet to race beyond 1 1/16 miles. But like Tracy Farmer's Sir Winston last year, he has established form at Belmont Park. Last out on June 4, he defeated a talented allowance field by five lengths, following up an earlier allowance victory in May at Gulfstream Park. His June 4 time of 1:39.76 for 1 1/16 miles was not far off Transparent's track record of 1:39.22, set in September 2014. 

"There are a lot of horses that like Belmont and a lot of horses that don't. So we have that going for us," Casse said. "Yeah, we're coming back a little quick but we've got a horse that loves the racetrack. He is strong right now. He is ready."

Tap It to Win, by Tapit , races for Charlotte Weber's Live Oak Plantation. Live Oak also bred the ridgling, who is out of the three-time stakes-winning Medaglia d'Oro  mare Onepointhreekarats.

Casse and Weber had hoped Tap It to Win, who was talented enough to win a maiden race at Saratoga Race Course last summer, could develop into a TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) prospect last year, but those dreams were dashed after he ran 10th in the Oct. 5 Claiborne Breeders' Futurity (G1) at Keeneland after being rank early in his first route. He also ran 10th in the Street Sense Stakes a start later at Churchill Downs, though with an excuse, exiting the race with an injured sesamoid that required surgery over the winter.

Typical of his sire's progeny, he seems to be getting better with maturity and experience.

"I just think the Tapits need to grow up a little bit. They have a few screws loose, but most good people that are interesting have a few screws loose," Weber said.

She and Casse have a history of success with the sire. Souper Tapit and Golden Hawk became graded-winning sons of Tapit for them.

Their most successful pairing came with World Approval, a Live Oak homebred by Northern Afleet. The gelding became the Eclipse Award-winning turf male of 2017 after winning the Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T) at Del Mar that same year.

He was retired in 2019 and resides at Weber's 4,500-acre Live Oak Stud property in Ocala, Fla., a city where Casse also has a residence, as did his late father, Norman, a friend with Weber for many years before his death in 2016.

"For a while I was in the game and it wasn't as much fun, but Mark made it fun again," Weber said of Casse, who began training for her about five years ago. "He's re-engaged it for me. I can win a nice allowance race and be perfectly happy."

This weekend, the prize is even more desirable, though the classic might not take on its regular feel, lacking fans as a health precaution due to COVID-19.

John Velasquez will ride Tap it to Win, as he did in the 3-year-old's local allowance win. The Hall of Fame jockey was also aboard for World Approval's Breeders' Cup Mile victory for Casse and Weber.

"If we win (Saturday), wouldn't it be nice on this year of Mark going into the Hall of Fame? That would be a candle on the icing on the cake," Weber said.