Tepin Set for Keeneland Prep in Hillsborough

"I have a sneaking suspicion Breeders' Cup champ Tepin is ready to run again," assistant trainer Norm Casse said via Twitter March 3.

An accompanying video clip shows the 5-year-old mare rearing and snorting playfully in her stall, two days before turning in her final pre-race breeze (four furlongs in :50 1/5 March 5 at Palm Meadows) leading into the $200,000 Hillsborough Stakes (gr. IIT) set for March 12 at Tampa Bay Downs.

Tepin, who closed her 2015 season beating males in the Breeders' Cup Mile (gr. IT) at Keeneland, is scheduled to return there for another shot at the boys in the April 15 Maker's 46 Mile (gr. IT). But first she must put in her final early season prep race in South Florida, after returning off the bench with a victory in the Feb. 13 Lambholm South Endeavour Stakes (gr. IIIT).

NOVAK: Tepin Flawless in Endeavour   

The 1 1/16-mile Endeavour set up perfectly for Robert Masterson's Bernstein runner, with soft easy fractions for her to close into en route to a 3 1/2-length cruise. The 1 1/8-mile Hillsborough could be a different story, at a distance over which she has been beaten before. 

"She's a little bit vulnerable going the mile and an eighth. That's always been her case, but the idea is to have her ready for Keeneland and have a top performance there," Casse said. "The Hillsborough sets her up for bigger things in the future."

Last season at Saratoga Race Course, Tepin saw a three-race win streak snapped after securing her first grade I victory in the Longines Just a Game Stakes (gr. IT), when she was beaten a nose by Hard Not to Like in the 1 1/8-mile Diana (gr. IT) and a head by Dacita in the 1 1/16-mile Ketel One Balston Spa (gr. IIT). But the tough beats set her up for a brilliant close to her championship campaign, when she came to Keeneland and won the First Lady (gr. IT) and Breeders' Cup Mile back-to-back.

"As heartbreaking as the two Saratoga races were—and I don't think we've ever loss two races more depressing—the truth is, that made her a better horse and set her up for a really big fall campaign," Casse said. "Maybe it just made her more determined. Plus, she ran her heart out in those two and we were able to take it easy on her coming into the next couple of races."

"I don't think the last race took anything out of her at all," Casse said. "She only really ran a sixteenth of a mile. We just want to make sure she's ready for Keeneland. She seems to be really happy right now, training better than ever. We think she's a horse that does better running—she really enjoys being a racehorse."

Ball Dancing and fellow Brown trainee Danza Cavallo both will make their season debuts in the Hillsborough, the former making it back from a nine-month absence from the races and the latter racing for the first time since November. Both have been breezing well, including a five-furlong bullet in company March 5 in 1:01 flat at Palm Meadows.

Ball Dancing, winner of the Jenny Wiley (gr. IT) at Keeneland for her first grade I score last April, went to the sidelines after an eighth in the June 6 Just a Game (gr. IT) at Belmont Park. Danza Cavallo finished second in the Long Island Handicap (gr. IIIT) to end her season Nov. 7 after running a game second to eventual Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (gr. IT) winner Stephanie's Kitten in the Flower Bowl Invitational (gr. IT).

Of the rivals Tepin overshadowed in the Endeavour, third-place finisher Lovely Loyree and fifth-place runner Bureau de Change return. Isabella Sings will make her first start of the year for Todd Pletcher after winning the Nov. 14 Mrs. Revere (gr. IIT) at Churchill Downs; Rainha Da Bateria hopes to do one better on a Feb. 6 runner-up Suwanee River (gr. IIIT) finish after running second in the Mrs. Revere to close out her 2015 season; and Button Down also makes her first run of 2016 after winning the Cardinal Handicap (gr. IIIT) last November at Churchill. Allowance winner Speed Seeker and local contender Royal Jewelry complete the field.

I have a sneaking suspicion that @BreedersCup #champ #Tepin is ready to run again. @TampaBayDownsFL pic.twitter.com/IADG2Ij5kU

— Norman W Casse (@casseracingnc) March 3, 2016