Tepin headed to Royal Ascot while Catch a Glimpse has Belmont Oaks as early goal

Edited Press Release

Trainer Mark Casse enjoy a successful Derby Week even though he didn’t have a starter in the Kentucky Derby (G1) and Kentucky Oaks (G1) at Churchill Downs.

His two 2015 Breeders’ Cup champions, Catch a Glimpse and Tepin, were able to showcase their talent in front of big crowds on both days.

Canadian Horse of the Year Catch a Glimpse, winner of last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1), was victorious in the Edgewood (G3) on the May 6 Kentucky Oaks (G1) undercard, while stablemate Tepin, reigning Eclipse champion turf female, was an effortless defending winner of the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile (G2) the following day.

It was a sixth straight trip to the winner’s circle for both champions.

“It’s obviously very rewarding to bring back two Breeders’ Cup champions and showcase them on Derby weekend,” assistant trainer Norman Casse said. “Obviously they performed the way that they were supposed to. It was an exciting weekend, even more so because all our friends and family were here.”

Tepin, who is expected to make her next start overseas in the June 14 Queen Anne (Eng-G1) at Royal Ascot, was under consideration for the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (G1) on the May 7 Kentucky Derby undercard against the boys.

“We figured that if the goal was Royal Ascot that the Distaff would be a little easier, so we decided to go that route,” Casse explained. “We’re just going one race at a time with her. She’ll come back from Royal Ascot. She’ll get a bit of a freshening and we’ll look at all of our options to get her to the Breeders’ Cup the best way possible.”

Catch a Glimpse is scheduled to make her next start in the $200,000 Wonder Again S. on June 5 at Belmont Park.

“She’s going to go to Belmont and go in the Wonder Again, but the goal with her is to win the ($1 million) Belmont Oaks (Invitational [G1] going 1 1/4 grassy miles on July 9),” Casse said. “A lot of people think that she is distance limited, but she just seems like a horse that waits around. When other horses come to her, she shows more so we won’t know what her true distance is until she actually runs it.”

Casse discussed Catch a Glimpse’s running style and how she appears to tail off when she makes the lead.

“You can see how professional she is until she makes the lead, and then she starts switching leads and starts waiting on the other horses,” Casse said. “It always looks like those other horses are going to get to her, but they never run by her, they never gallop out in front of her.

“When we tried her at a mile-and-a-sixteenth people said she wouldn’t be able to get the distance. We ran her here now people say she can’t get a mile-and-an-eighth. I guarantee the same thing will happen again if she runs in the (Belmont) Oaks, they’ll say, ‘Oh well she definitely won’t get a mile-and-a-quarter,’ but we’ll see. So it’s one of those things, she’ll give you everything that she has.”

Tepin and Catch a Glimpse photos courtesy of Churchill Downs/Coady Photography