Barn Tour: Norm Casse on graded winners, other top talent
Norm Casse’s training operation just keeps gaining momentum.
He has three graded-stakes wins this year with different horses, matching his prior career total. Now in his sixth year of training, he has earnings of $3.3 million so far this year, his highest figure yet.
“I think overall we just have horses and clients that support me,” Casse told Horse Racing Nation on Tuesday. “And we obviously have a great team and program in place. And I think, as the years go by, things should only get better because we're kind of getting the type of horses that you need to have to perform at the highest level.”
Based at Churchill Downs and heading to Oaklawn and Fair Grounds for the winter, Casse has about 50 horses in training. “That's pretty much where I've been the last probably year and a half. It's hard. We like to run our horses aggressively, so that means we lose a lot of horses in claiming races. And I think most people recognize it's obviously very easy to lose horses in the claim box, but it's hard to replace them. I feel like we kind of just maxed out at 50.”
Casse provided updates on his graded-stakes winners, promising juveniles and others for the latest in HRN’s Barn Tour series.
Hot and Sultry. The 4-year-old Speighster filly took six months off after finishing fourth in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff and returned with a win in Saturday’s Chilukki (G3) at a mile. “She came out of the Chilukki very well,” Casse said. “We were very excited about that performance, and she'll be based at Oaklawn during the winter. But we have no definitive plans on where she's going to run next, kind of have to let her dictate. That was such a big effort that I don't want to pencil in a race and her not be ready for it after such a big performance off a layoff like that.”
Rhyme Schemes. The 2-year-old Ghostzapper colt hasn’t raced since winning the Saratoga Special (G2) by 9 1/2 lengths in August. “Rhyme Schemes had a setback this summer, which stopped him from continuing his 2-year-old campaign. He should be back in the barn in early January. That's going to kind of put us in a time crunch for anything in the spring, Triple Crown-type races. But he's a horse that we feel like is going to have a bright future in the summer and the fall of next year.”
Southlawn, winner of the Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) in the spring, was sold at Keeneland as a racing broodmare, Casse said.
Easy Action. The 3-year-old gelded son of Speightstown has a record of 7: 2-3-1 this year, most recently winning an allowance sprint at Churchill Downs by 3 1/4 lengths over the odds-on favorite. “Easy Action will be based at Oaklawn and probably won't run until late January. Keep him running at sprinting distances. We've been really excited about the way that he's been running since we gelded him (during the summer). Really felt like he wasn't giving us everything that he had and we gelded him. It's made a big difference.”
Effortlesslyelgant. The 3-year-old Liam’s Map filly broke her maiden in January and is 2-for-5 this year, most recently finishing fourth in an optional-claiming allowance at Churchill after being off for seven months. In that race, Casse said, “she kind of actually broke poorly, and she was rushed off her feet. I'm going to give her a complete pass. For her first start back last week, just those were circumstantial reasons why she ran a little more poorly than we thought that she would.” He said she probably will return in the Mistletoe Stakes at Oaklawn on Dec. 9.
Johny’s Fireball. The 4-year-old gelded son of Tonalist is 3-for-8 this year in allowance and claiming events. “We'll aim him for the stakes program that the Fair Grounds runs for older turf horses.”
I’m Your Man. The 2-year-old Vino Rosso colt won on debut in a maiden-claiming race at Churchill. He’s the 5-2 morning-line favorite in a 1 1/16-mile starter allowance at the same track on Thanksgiving day. “I think the jury's still out with him. I think he'll run all day long, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. But sometimes I feel like we still have to add a little bit of speed. But we were really excited about the way that he ran the first time. And it's going to be very interesting to see him run two turns. That was a one-turn mile. The horses got away from him a little bit more than they would with a two-turn race, and I feel like his punch will be more effective.”
Lookster. The 2-year-old Hard Spun filly won at second asking at a mile in October at Churchill and is entered in a one-mile, optional-claiming allowance there on Saturday. “Really excited about her. I think she's talented. She's running a one-turn mile again. Really looking forward to her running two turns, to be honest. I just feel like when she gets into more of a rhythm, she’s going to be more effective. But this is a perfect race for her to go and hopefully she'll run in the same type of races Southlawn did at the Fair Grounds this winter.”
Empire Island. The 2-year-old daughter of Classic Empire won her only start, a maiden special weight at Saratoga in August. “Kind of the same circumstances as Rhyme Schemes. She had a setback in the summer. She''ll actually be back in the barn in mid-December. And we're hoping to get her started and point her to the Kentucky Oaks, if possible.”