Casse Takes Aim at CD Juvenile Stakes

Juveniles stretch to 1 1/16 miles in graded stakes company for the first time Sept. 17 at Churchill Downs in the $150,000 Iroquois Stakes (gr. III) for males and $200,000 Pocahontas Stakes (gr. III) for fillies, and trainer Mark Casse has strong contenders in each race.

In the Iroquois Casse returns with Gary Barber and St. Elias Stable's Thirstforlife. The colt from the first crop of Stay Thirsty   easily dispatched maiden foes under the Twin Spires back in early June after running third in the Kentucky Juvenile Stakes at first asking, then ran third behind Klimt in Del Mar's Best Pal Stakes (gr. II) Aug. 13. Klimt came back to win the Del Mar Futurity (gr. I) on Labor Day.

Thirstforlife will have to add two furlongs to his game to win the Iroquois, and must catch Sagamore Farm's Recruiting Ready. The quick son of first-crop sire Algorithms   finished a close second in Churchill's Bashford Manor Stakes (gr. III) July 2 and came in second in the 6 1/2-furlong Saratoga Special Stakes (gr. II) at Saratoga Race Course on the front end before he was disqualified and placed fourth.

In post 8 is the Albaugh Family Stable's Not This Time, a 10-length maiden winner Aug. 12 going a mile at Ellis Park. By Giant's Causeway  , the homebred colt is out of Miss Macy Sue, a two-time winner of Churchill's Winning Colors Stakes (gr. III) in 2007-08.

The Pocahontas drew 10, with John Oxley's homebred Dream Dancing the most seasoned around two turns. The Casse-trained filly has already run twice at 1 1/16 miles, both on the turf at Saratoga in maiden company, and broke through Aug. 28 to earn an 87 Equibase Speed Figure, the highest last-out number at a mile or beyond.

It doesn’t hurt that she is a daughter of Tapit  . Tapit’s champion filly Untapable won the race in 2013.

Of interest is the stretch out of Keene Thoroughbreds’ Bling On the Music, who will break from the rail. The Texas-bred daughter of Too Much Bling   is three-for-three, including a 13-length win last time out going six furlongs in Arapahoe Park's Gold Rush Futurity. Trainer J.R. Caldwell and Keene hooked up last weekend to win Louisiana Downs’ Super Derby (gr. III) with Texas Chrome.

Farther out in the gate is Daddy's Lil Darling, a sharp maiden winner for Normandy Farm July 29 at Ellis for trainer Ken McPeek. A daugher of the late Scat Daddy, she is out of grade II-placed Miss Hot Salsa and is a half sister to TwinSpires Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (gr. IT) winner Mongolian Saturday.