Casse notes: Tap It to Win stays sprinting for Saratoga's Amsterdam

Live Oak Plantation's Tap It to Win benefited from a cut back in distance in his last start, and Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse said he will shorten him up once again in the Grade 2, $150,000 Amsterdam on Aug. 29 at Saratoga.

After running fifth in the 1 1/8-mile Belmont Stakes on June 20, Casse said he thought the Tapit colt would benefit from returning to sprints. He proved his conditioner right in the seven-furlong H. Allen Jerkens (G1) on Whitney Day at the Spa on Aug. 1, running second to Echo Town in an 11-horse field over the fast main track.

Two of Tap It to Win's three career wins have come in sprints, as he looks to build on those efforts in the 28th running of the six-furlong Amsterdam. On Saturday, the Florida homebred registered his first breeze since the Jerkens, going four furlongs in 47.72 seconds over Saratoga's main track.

"He's doing good and worked good yesterday and we're looking at the Amsterdam with him," Casse said. "We're going to cut him back even more. He ran well last time and we were happy with him and we're going to try and shorten him up even more. We're trying to keep him against straight 3-year-olds, so the opportunities are becoming a little limited. We'll run him there and go from there."

Stretched out to 1 1/16 miles, Tap It to Win won against allowance company June 4 at Belmont while earning a personal-best 97 Beyer Speed Figure, convincing the connections to take a shot in the Belmont Stakes later that month that saw its usual distance of 1½ miles shortened to a one-turn race to accommodate the revised Triple Crown schedule for 2020.

Tap It to Win is 3-2-0 in eight career starts.

Other stakes-experienced sprinters from the Casse barn put in works at Saratoga, with Old Chestnut and Jack and Noah each registering five-furlong works Sunday over the Oklahoma turf track.

Gary Barber's Jack and Noah put in a bullet work in 59.83, the fastest of 33 timed at the distance. The 3-year-old son of Bated Breath ran fifth in the Quick Call (G3) going 5½ furlongs July 24 at Saratoga in his first start since winning the Sir Cat going six furlongs in June at Belmont.

"Jack and Noah got away a little slow last time and never showed much of anything," Casse said. "He hasn't had the best of luck at the break. We gave him a little bit of time and took it easy and he worked extremely well this morning."

Live Oak Plantation's Old Chestnut, who went in 1:02 flat, ran second to Turned Aside in the Quick Call in his graded stakes debut. The sophomore Speightstown colt and his stablemate are both likely for the 5½-furlong $85,000 Mahony for 3-year-olds Aug 26 at Saratoga, set to be contested on the Mellon turf course.

"We'll probably run them both in there," Casse said.

Casse said Barber's Got Stormy is training well heading into Saturday's $400,000 Fourstardave (G1), a turf handicap for 3-year-olds and up going one mile on the inner turf. A "Win and You're In" qualifier to the Breeders' Cup Mile, Got Stormy beat the boys in the contest last year, becoming the first filly to capture the Fourstardave in 35 runnings when she set a course record of 1:32.

Casse said he is hoping for firm turf for Got Stormy, who has registered all three of her career graded stakes wins under those conditions.

"She's doing well,” Casse said. “Keeping an eye on the weather, we just haven't been able to get firm turf this year, so I don't know how it'll play out.”

Tracy Farmer's Sir Winston could be heading back to a race in the near future following a bullet four-furlong breeze in 47.09 over the Saratoga main track Sunday. The 2019 Belmont Stakes winner defeated allowance company in his 4-year-old bow Jan. 31 at Aqueduct Racetrack before running second in the Flat Out on June 11 at Belmont. Returning to graded stakes company, Sir Winston ran sixth in the Suburban (G2) on July 4 at Belmont in his last start.

"He worked very good this morning," Casse said. "He had been real lackluster and hasn't been training like we wanted, but today was a little more like it. We hadn't planned on a race for him, but now that he worked the way he did, we'll look for something."

War of Will, the 2019 Preakness winner, put in a five-furlong work in 1:00.80 on Sunday at Churchill. Casse said the 4-year-old son of War Front, also owned by Barber, is headed to the $1 million Woodbine Mile (G1) on Sept. 19.