Catch a Glimpse Aims for Appalachian

Gary Barber, Michael James Ambler and Windways Farm’s Catch a Glimpse was doing well the morning after opening her 3-year-old season with a 2 ½-length victory the $150,000 Herecomesthebride (G3) Saturday at Gulfstream Park.

It was the fourth straight win for the chestnut daughter of City Zip, making her first start since winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) Oct. 30 at Keeneland. Trained by Mark Casse, she is a Sovereign Award finalist for Canada’s champion 2-year-old filly of 2015.

“She’s very good this morning. I thought she was impressive. I’d read that some people thought she may not be cranked up for the race but we felt like she was ready and ready to win. We weren’t going to bring back the Breeders’ Cup winner and let her need a race,” Casse said. “It was kind of like someone saying Tepin might need a race. She’s the queen of the ball right now, and it wouldn’t be right of us to bring her back and not have her ready to win. That’s kind of the way I felt with Catch a Glimpse.”

Catch a Glimpse stalked pacesetter Vieja Luna racing three wide under regular rider Florent Geroux before moving up to take command at the five-sixteenths pole. She came widely around the far turn but dug in after straightening for home and pulled clear.

“The move she made at the top of the lane, I saw where [son and assistant trainer] Norman said she maybe was going too fast. Maybe that was it; I thought she just lost focus for a second. If you noticed her ears went up like, ‘Oh,’ as soon as she made the lead. Of course Flo tapped her on the shoulder a couple of times and she took off,” Casse said. “I was very proud of Catch a Glimpse yesterday. She can be a little nervous and everything. Normally we just ship down the morning of the race but we did ship her down a few days ahead of time and let her settle in, and we schooled her a few times. She was very professional.”

Casse compared Catch a Glimpse to her 5-year-old stablemate Tepin, the multiple Grade 1-winning Eclipse Award champion grass mare of 2015 who beat males in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1).

“She reminds me a lot of Tepin, though Tepin at this point in her career wasn’t as talented as Catch a Glimpse. Tepin took a while to really get into the groove and become what she’s become,” Casse said. “Where I draw the comparison is when you ask either one of those fillies, they can gallop along at a slow pace which not a lot of horses can do, and then when you ask them to quicken it’s like pushing the accelerator. They look nothing alike. Catch a Glimpse is taller and leaner where she looks more like a wide receiver. Tepin looks more like a big, strong running back.”

Casse said he plans to point for the $125,000 Appalachian (G3) April 14 at Keeneland as the likely next start for Catch a Glimpse.