Empire’s state
Trainer says fortunes turned after March move to Florida
Likely favorite Classic Empire is “on his game” heading into Kentucky Derby, trainer Mark Casse says,
The days here have been long and tiring, allowing trainer Mark Casse to fall asleep fast and rest well. But the weight of having the Kentucky Derby favorite in his barn began to settle in Saturday night when he was watching another one of his horses run at Churchill Downs and his wife asked why he seemed to be in a daze.
“I think it may be starting to hit me a little bit,” Casse said Sunday. “You start having everything go through your mind. Now, nothing can go wrong.”
Plenty has gone wrong for Casse and Classic Empire since he won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in November to wrap up the Eclipse Award as top juvenile male. When he returned to the track in February, he finished a dull third in the Holy Bull Stakes, a performance that made more sense two days later when a painful abscess surfaced in his right front hoof.
Getting a horse fit enough to win the Kentucky Derby is a delicate, months-long process. Horses can overcome a setback here or there, but too many of them are impossible to overcome. Not only did the abscess alter Casse’s plans, but the situation became even more discouraging when headstrong Classic Empire twice refused to train after the foot healed.
In March, they moved him to Ocala, Fla., simply to give him a change of scenery — not the kind of audible any trainer wants to call two months before the Derby.
“We were fine with it because I always felt like we had time to correct it,” Casse said. “It’s not simple. A lot of people think they’re automobiles or machines. It’s not that way. We got to a point where every day was crucial. I never really felt great until we got to Arkansas and ran.”
In the last 40 years, only five 2year old champions have translated their brilliance to the Kentucky Derby winner’s circle at 3. Some of them have been injured, some weren’t capable of running a mile and a quarter and others were simply caught by their peers who might have been slower to develop.
Casse’s last shot to get Classic Empire to Churchill Downs was the Arkansas Derby on April 15. It was a big moment not only to justify keeping the horse on track for Kentucky, but also to earn enough points to qualify for the field. (Only the top 20 in points earned through prep races are guaranteed spots in the starting gate.)
Classic Empire didn’t have the cleanest trip at Oaklawn Park, finding traffic on the backstretch that halted his momentum and forced jockey Julien Leparoux to swing wide on the far turn. But in the final eighth of a mile, Classic Empire passed three horses to win by a half-length and re-establish himself as the favorite to win the roses.
“My thought was, ‘If he didn’t run well enough, he didn’t deserve to be in the Kentucky Derby,’ ” Casse said. “I was OK with that. But I was a little worried because he got in some trouble and as they’re coming down the lane, I’m thinking, ‘If he doesn’t get in the Kentucky Derby because of a bad trip, that would be disheartening.’ We were lucky it went well.”
Though he’s American, Casse bases his operation at Woodbine in Toronto and has been Canada’s top trainer for more than a decade. More and more over the last few years, he has found top-level horses in his barn such as Classic Empire and Tepin, a two-time champion female turf horse. Casse comes to Churchill Downs this year with a second legitimate contender in State of Honor, who has won once in 10 starts but finished second in the Tampa Bay Derby and Florida Derby.
Now, after a long spring of setbacks and comebacks, Casse is literally knocking on every piece of wood he comes across from now until Saturday.
“I wish we could run today,” Casse said. “He’s happy, he’s on his game and he likes it here.”
As always, the week of the Kentucky Derby brings all kinds of story lines into focus, both equine and human. Here are some that will draw attention in the lead-up to the race.
Girvin drama:
There has been plenty of mystery in recent days surrounding lightly raced but talented Girvin, who won the two major Derby preps in Louisiana. After Girvin was moved from Churchill Downs about an hour away to Keeneland and a scheduled workout last week was postponed, speculation began to bubble about whether the horse might have an ailment that could cause him to miss the Kentucky Derby. Trainer Joe Sharp revealed that Girvin had developed a quarter crack in his right front hoof that could inhibit his performance if it was causing soreness. After Girvin breezed 5 furlongs in a quick 593⁄ seconds Sunday, it appears all systems are go. Still, the Derby is hard enough to win with a horse in perfect physical condition, never mind one that has had a setback this close to the race.
Streak ending ?
Given the unwieldy 20-horse field, the trend toward fewer prep races before the Triple Crown and the typically fast pace on the lead, the Derby often sets up well for long shots. But the betting favorite is on a four-year winning streak in the Derby, something that hadn’t happened previously since 197275. If the favorite (likely Classic Empire) wins this year, it would be the first five-year streak since the late 1800s. That’s a lot of history to overcome, especially in a race that seems to be wide-open. Classic Empire is almost the favorite by default as the most accomplished horse in the field, but he enters the race with more question marks than the last few Derby winners, including a history of being temperamental and a lackluster speed figure in his prep race.
Missing Baffert:
The familiar white hair of Bob Baffert will be around Churchill Downs this week with Kentucky Oaks contender Abel Tasman, but the four-time Derby-winning trainer came up empty this year with his 3-year-old colts. That’s unusual for Baffert, who typically has several promising Derby hopefuls in his barn and has missed the race only four times in the previous 21 years. It appeared Baffert would have one of the favorites in undefeated Mastery when he impressively won the San Felipe Stakes in March. Instead, the celebration was muted when they discovered a condylar fracture in his ankle that occurred a few jumps after the wire. Even for Baffert, who trained American Pharoah to the Triple Crown in 2015, it takes a lot of luck to get a horse to Derby Day.