Norman Casse: Tepin ‘hasn’t missed a beat since she got back’

Edited Press Release

Champion turf mare Tepin has been settling back into her Churchill Downs base well since returning on Monday following a successful trip overseas to Royal Ascot where she won the Queen Anne Stakes (Eng-G1) on June 14.

“She’s good, she’s happy,” said Norman Casse, trainer Mark Casse’s son and assistant. “We’ll probably be going up on the last load to Saratoga and start training her up there.

“It’s kind of crazy to go out there and look at her because it looks like she didn’t even go over there. She’s happy and she hasn’t missed a beat since she got back.”

Since arriving to the Casse barn on Monday, the bay daughter of Bernstein has been doing nothing more than walking the shed row and will likely not begin any serious training until arriving at Saratoga, where Casse plans to send a string of 32 horses.

“If she gets a little bit to be too much of a handful in the shed row then we may take her out to the track,” Casse said. “But for right now we’re just walking her.”

Tepin’s five-year-old campaign is unblemished in five starts this year. Prior to her international triumph at Royal Ascot, she punched in a pair of victories at Tampa Bay Downs this winter in the February 12 Endeavour Stakes (G3) and March 13 Hillsborough Stakes (G2) that were followed by decisive wins in the April 16 Jenny Wiley Stakes (G1) at Keeneland and May 7 Churchill Downs Distaff Turf Mile (G2).

The next major goal for the Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1)-winning mare is the C$1 million Woodbine Mile (Can-G1) on September 17, but there is an “outside chance” she could run once before that in the $400,000 Ballston Spa Stakes (G2) on August 27 at Saratoga, a race where she suffered her most recent defeat in last year’s edition to Dacita.

“The goal is to run at Woodbine,” Casse said. “If she’s really training well we could run at Saratoga, but she’d have to be really coming out of her skin for us to do that.”

Tepin photo courtesy of Frank Sorge/Horsephotos.com