8-Year-Old Campaign May Be Ahead for Casa Creed

While the multiple grade 1 winner Casa Creed  will turn 8 on Jan. 1, plans for another chapter in his amazing racing career are in the works.

Co-owner Lee Einsidler of LRE Racing said there are no thoughts of breeding the Jimmy Creed   horse at the moment. And if he shows his customary verve in his initial 2024 training, he will embark on a campaign with trainer Bill Mott that could include a return trip to Saudi Arabia in the winter and a bid for a third straight win in the Fourstardave Handicap (G1T) at Saratoga Race Course in the summer.

"As long as he shows he has not lost a step and is as good as ever, we intend to run him next year," Einsidler said. "I'm about racing. If we could find the right stallion deal, maybe we'd do it. But it would be amazing if we could take him to Saratoga for a fifth straight start in the Fourstardave. That would be unbelievable."

Casa Creed, who is also owned by sports talk radio icon Mike Francesa of JEH Racing Stable, is getting a rest after finishing third in the Nov. 4 Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T). He faced an outstanding field and was the top American finisher behind Godolphin's European-based Master of the Seas  and Mawj .

"He beat every American horse in the race and was gallant behind the two Godolphin horses," Einsidler said about Casa Creed's half-length loss.

It marked his fourth straight start—and best finish—in a Breeders' Cup turf race.

If all goes well in his training, the first 2024 objective could be the 1351 Turf Sprint (G2), a race in which the son of the Bellamy Road mare Achalaya finished second in 2023 and 2022. The $2 million stakes will be contested Feb. 24 at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

"It all depends on how he is doing," Einsidler said. "If he's ready, we'll go. If he needs more time, we'll give it to him."

Aside from winning the 2023 and 2022 editions of the Fourstardave, Casa Creed was third in the 2020 and 2021 runnings. He also won this year's Kelso Stakes (G3T) at Saratoga, and with five wins at the Spa, four of them in graded stakes, he has been dubbed "The Mayor of Saratoga."

He is also a two-time winner of the Jaipur Stakes (G1T) at Belmont Park. After taking the 2022 and 2021 editions of the turf sprint, in June he finished third to 2022 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) winner Caravel  and Big Invasion . With Belmont Park expected to be closed for renovations in the spring, the Jaipur could be contested at Saratoga in 2024, if the typical Belmont Stakes (G1) Day card is contested there.

Bred by Silver Springs Stud in Kentucky, he has a record of 9-5-6 from 34 starts with earnings of $2,640,308. Casa Creed was purchased for $105,000 from the Kelli Mitchell consignment at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale in 2017.