Conquest Panthera may get right setup in bid to end skid

FRANKLIN, Ky. – Mark Casse will need to excuse himself from all the merriment Saturday to watch a horse race. Casse’s son, trainer Norman Casse, will be married in the early evening to Gabby Gaudet at the bride’s family farm in Upper Marlboro, Md., but no one will mind if the groom’s dad momentarily turns his attention to a simulcast of the Grade 3, $500,000 Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint.

Conquest Panthera will represent Casse in the 6 1/2-furlong Turf Sprint, and circumstances could favor the 6-year-old gelding snapping a nine-race losing streak. He’ll be on a turn back from longer races, and a plethora of opposing speed could benefit his closing kick.

“His best distance is probably right about seven furlongs,” Casse said this week while traveling. “My thought about Kentucky Downs is to always add a little more distance to what’s listed because of the up and down and the sweeping turn and all that, so this race should hit him right in the noggin.”

A fast pace seems assured with most of the opposition exiting shorter races. Longshots Richiesinthehouse, Jazzy Times, and Little Chesney figure on or near the lead, with Vici, Blind Ambition, and Done Deal not much farther back. Casse is hoping Florent Geroux, the leading stakes jockey at Kentucky Downs since 2015, can save ground from post 1 before making a timely bid on Conquest Panthera, who like White Flag and Undrafted will be looking to overtake the leaders in the stretch.

“It seems like you’ve always got plenty of time to make your run there,” said Casse.

Undrafted, easily the most accomplished starter in the field with more than $1.47 million in earnings from 36 starts, will be in action at Kentucky Downs for a remarkable fifth straight year. He is making his first start since finishing far back in a handicap at Ascot in England in June.

“The old warhorse has trained real steady at Keeneland since we brought him back from England,” said trainer Wesley Ward. “He’s sitting on go.”

In all, the 12-horse maximum is entered in the Turf Sprint, although at least two horses will scratch. Master Merion was to run here Thursday for Ward in the Old Friends Stakes, and Maniacal is in a far more competitive spot in the third race Sunday.

First post Saturday is 1:25 p.m. Central, with the 20th running of the Turf Sprint going as the ninth of 10 races (5:29). It’s part of a late pick five wager that starts with the only ungraded stakes of the card, the $500,000 Kentucky Downs Juvenile Turf Sprint (race 6, 3:55), which was inaugurated this year to serve as a prep for the new Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.

Ward, true to his unconventional style, has entered two fillies, Moonlight Romance and Mae Never No, in a field made up mostly of males in the 6 1/2-furlong Juvenile Turf Sprint.

Both of the Ward fillies have demonstrated the precocity for which the trainer’s runners are known. They’ll be among the favorites and are likely to show speed from their outside posts. Moonlight Romance, back from the Royal Ascot meet after a maiden romp in May at Belmont, will break from post 10, and Mae Never No, a last-out winner of the Colleen at Monmouth, will start alongside in post 11.

“I’ve always said running fillies against the boys when they’re young is no big deal,” said Ward. “In lots of cases they’re the ones who’ve shown the most early development. I’m confident they’ll both run big in this spot.”

Probably the top threat to the uncoupled Ward pair is Chattel, a last-out winner of the Skidmore at 22-1 over the Saratoga turf. The son of Giant Oak was a mere $2,000 yearling purchase after being bred by the University of Kentucky.

Purses for both the Turf Sprint and Juvenile Turf Sprint include sizable bonuses restricted to horses registered with the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund.