Neepawa Completes a Casse Canadian Triple Crown
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Photo: Michael Burns
Jockey Jerome Lermyte celebrates after Neepawa wins the Breeders' Stakes Aug. 18 at Woodbine
Bob Baffert isn't the only Triple Crown-winning trainer this year.
Trainer Mark Casse completed a personal Triple Crown Aug. 18 when Chiefswood Stable homebred Neepawa delivered a front-running win in the $400,000 Breeders' Stakes on the Woodbine lawn.
Neepawa's 3 1/2-length victory in Saturday's 1 1/2-mile turf test for 3-year-olds foaled in Canada followed victories by the Casse-trained filly Wonder Gadot in the first two legs of Canada's Triple Crown: the Queen's Plate Stakes at Woodbine and the Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie Racetrack. Casse opted to have Wonder Gadot skip the Breeders' Stakes in favor of an Aug. 25 start in the $1.25 million Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course.
Casse watched the race on television from his house in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
"So much was written about us not going to the Breeders' Stakes with Wonder Gadot, so it was nice to complete the sweep with Neepawa," Casse said. "It was special."
While Wonder Gadot again will take on the boys in the Travers, Neepawa carried the Casse baton Saturday under jockey Jerome Lermyte. The colt found the yielding turf to his liking, looking comfortable as he opened a clear lead through a half-mile in :49.98. Coming off the far turn, Neepawa added to his advantage—opening up five lengths in early stretch—and he carried that momentum to the wire, completing the race in 2:31.18.
Neepawa returned $6.80 to win, $3.60 to place, and $3.10 to show. Runner-up Say the Word paid $4.50 to place and $3.40 to show while longshot Flight Deck paid $7.90 to show.
"The plan was to keep him comfortable," Lermyte said. "He went to the lead. He actually jumped somewhere around there, he jumped whatever he saw on the (ground), but then he relaxed quite a bit even though he was going a little bit faster than what I was planning on going. The main thing is I wanted him to be comfortable so he could produce the best effort at the end."
Like U.S. Triple Crown winner Justify, Neepawa is a son of Scat Daddy. Neepawa is the second Breeders' Stakes winner trained by Casse, following Marchfield in 2007.
After an off-the-board finish in the Queen's Plate, contested June 30 on the all-weather track at Woodbine, Neepawa entered off a third-place finish in the July 28 Toronto Cup Stakes on the Woodbine turf, where he started slow and rallied. Neepawa secured his first stakes win in Saturday's Breeders' Stakes.
"I was a little worried when I saw him on the lead so early, but the pace was slow and the track was heavy and he can run all day so it was good," said owner Robert Krembil of Chiefswood Stable.
Casse noted that the barn had confidence in Neepawa, who is the first winner for stakes-winning Niigon mare Niigon's Touch
"He has terrific breeding and he's always been talented," Casse said. "It was just a matter of putting it all together. It was a nice win."