Saratoga Notebook: Presented by NYRA Bets: Casse Not Moaning After L Cara Not Able to Run in CCA Oaks

[Wandering Eyes]

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. –The expectations? Oh, they were through the roof.

Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse thought his 3-year-old filly La Cara (Street Sense) was going to run huge in the GI Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga.

Those hopes turned to despair mighty quick.

About eight hours before the CCA Oaks was run Saturday, La Cara was denied the chance to run after a suspected case of strangles forced the New York Racing Association and the New York State Gaming Commission to place a group of horses in Barn 28 on the Saratoga backstretch under quarantine. La Cara was one of them.

Instead of La Cara, who was the 2-1 second choice on the CCA Oaks morning line, having a shot at her third career Grade I win, Casse was reduced to a fan watching a horse race.

Scottish Lassie (McKinzie) won the CCA Oaks by 15 1/2 lengths. Could it have been different if La Cara had run. We'll never know. And Casse was not going to play the 'what if' game Sunday morning.

“It would have been a different run race, obviously,” Casse said Sunday morning on the Saratoga backstretch. “(Scottish Lassie) likes the lead like ours does. It would have been a more contested pace.”

Casse was disappointed but felt worse for owner Tracey Famer and his wife Carol, who made the trip from Kentucky to see La Cara run.

“They handled it like troopers,” Casse said. “The only question they had was 'where do we go next?”

That would be the GI, $600,000 Alabama Stakes, the Saratoga centerpiece race for 3-year-old fillies on Aug. 16. Casse also plays to run Nitrogen (Medaglia d'Oro), owned by D J Stable LLC in the Alabama.

A horse trained by Mike Maker, 4-year-old filly Surprenant Cocca (Catholic Boy) showed symptoms of strangles, a contagious bacterial infection. She has since been moved offsite for additional testing.

Casse has seven horses stabled in Barn 28; the majority of his horses–including 3-year-old Sandman (Tapit), who is targeting the GII, $500,000 Jim Dandy this Saturday–are in Barn 29 and not affected.

When Casse first got the bad news, La Cara was getting a bath on Saturday morning. He said he has not been told how long the quarantine will last. Horses in Barn 28 are not allowed to train among the general population.

“I can't fret over things I can't control, so I don't,” Casse said. “I just won my 4,000th race. I have a wonderful, beautiful wife, a great family, a good barn. This was one of the craziest things I have ever encountered. Yes, it's frustrating, but I have dealt with so much in my career; that is why I never count on anything.

“You just have to laugh,” he said. “I was sitting on the couch (Saturday night) and I just started laughing. Tina (his wife) asked what I was laughing about. I just said, 'you can't make this stuff up!”

 

No Late Night For Abreu After Winning First Saratoga Grade I

Jorge Abreu was no party animal Saturday night after Scottish Lassie (McKinzie) won the GI Coaching Club American Oaks, giving the 44-year-old his first Saratoga Grade I win.

“I went home, I was in bed by 8,” Abreu said Sunday morning at his barn in the annex across from the Oklahoma Training Track. “I had a busy morning (Sunday).”

He had a bushel of young horses to train, but the smile did not leave his face and probably won't for the next few days, if not weeks.

Scottish Lassie's 15 1/2-length romp in the watered down CCA Oaks field was reason enough for Abreu to rejoice.

“I am still on cloud nine,” he said. “I told you, going into this race, I was 100 percent confident she was going to run a big race because she was training so well.”

Immersive (Nyquist), last year's Juvenile Filly champion and the 3-5 CCA Oaks favorite, was a distant second. The race lost some of its luster when La Cara, the 2-1 second choice on the morning line, scratched after the barn she was in was placed under quarantine.

Another filly, Sweet Seraphine (Quality Road) was scratched from the race because of an infection.

None of that was going to sour this victory for Abreu. Scottish Lassie gave him his first Grade I win last year when she won the Frizette Stakes at Aqueduct.

“I'm not taking anything away from La Cara because she is a Grade I winner and a really good horse,” Abreu said. “Coming in, all six horses were salty horses, but I was coming in at 100 percent. I wasn't going to care who else was in the race. I knew she would run her race.”

Abreu said Scottish Lassie, owned by Sportsmen Stable, Parkland Thoroughbreds, Photos Finish LLC, Corms Racing Stable and Abreu, bounced out of the CCA Oaks in great shape. She jumped into her feed tub and Abreu said she was bright and alert Sunday morning,

The next goal will be the $600,000, GI Alabama on Aug. 16 at the Spa.

“She'll be ready for the next one,” Abreu said. “This hasn't quite sunk in. It seemed like I had a million text messages. Yes, I'm excited.”

The last filly to win both the CCA Oaks and Alabama was Nest (Curlin), who did it in 2022.

Trainer Ryan Beat The Traffic After Book 'em Danno's Beat The Vanderbilt

Derek Ryan didn't wait around very long after Book 'em Danno (Bucchero) mowed down the field in Saturday's GII Alfred G. Vanderbilt at Saratoga Race Course.

Following the popular 4-year-old's 2 ½-length win in the Vanderbilt, the trainer spent some time at the barn, got something to eat, slept for a few hours and then came back to the barn at 3 a.m to check on his big horse.

Then he hit the road, bound for Monmouth Park in New Jersey.

“Left at 3:15 a.m.,” Ryan said by phone late Sunday morning. “I had to get back to Monmouth to train horses. It took me 5 ½ hours to get to Saratoga, just under three to get home. No traffic. All the idiots were off the road.”

After training, Ryan got home in time and planned to watch the end of the British Open golf tournament.

Before that, he was happy to talk Book 'em Danno, who won his ninth career race in 15 starts. His six-furlong Vanderbilt win kept him undefeated at the distance (4-for-4). He has three wins in four Saratoga career starts.

Next up has not been decided, but Ryan said the GI, $500,000 Forego at seven furlongs would be a logical step.

Book 'em Danno, owned by Atlantic Six Racing LLC, has three wins in six career starts at seven furlongs; one of his defeats came by a neck.

“We are going to take it one race at a time,” Ryan said. “We will get over this one and then figure out the next spot. More than likely, it will be one of the main ones. He will run any distance I want him to run. Good horses will do anything.”

Ryan said that Book 'em Danno will remain in Saratoga for now. He has not yet decided when he will bring him back to his barn in New Jersey.

 

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