Conquest Big E Gets Class Relief at Churchill Downs
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Conquest Stables’
Conquest Big E, eighth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (GI) at Keeneland, will be looking for a boost in confidence when takes a drop in class for
Saturday’s 10
th race at Churchill Downs, a first-level allowance optional claiming event over one mile on the main track.
Norman Casse, assistant to father Mark, believes that the son of Tapit has a bright future ahead of him but could use some mental development.
“We think that he’s a super talented horse, but also that mentally he’s not as far along as a horse like Airoforce [entered in Kentucky Jockey Club] so we want to give him a confidence booster,” Casse said. “His biggest Achilles heel is his mind. Being around him I can tell he’s gotten better with every start. Once he starts putting it together, he’ll be a really good race horse. This is one of those deals where you can’t really train it; you just have to let him get better as he runs in these races. I think he’ll be mentally ready around Derby time.”
Conquest Big E will be breaking from post 7, which Casse believes will be in his favor.
“I’m really happy with the post position; I think he likes being outside of horses,” he said. “We’re really happy to see him run again because we think he’s so talented.”
Conquest Big E did not get such a post in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile when he broke from the 1 hole.
“When we got the post positions for the Breeders’ Cup we were actually really happy,” Casse said. “At Keeneland with that short stretch we thought that the mile-and-a-sixteenth short stretch would be better than being drawn outside, but if you watch the race you could tell he was very uncomfortable. He just wasn’t being himself. He didn’t like being inside of horses; he gets intimidated easily. We really think that he ran a real good race in the Breeders’ Cup all things considered so he definitely likes being outside and being more in control of himself.”
He received a lot of attention at the betting window last time going off at 14-1 odds, a big difference from his 30-1 morning line odds. “The word’s out on him a little bit,” Casse said. “He’s a horse that is easy to know he’s a good horse because of how he trains. He goes out and he trains like a good horse and he looks good breezing.”
UNEXPLAINED STRETCHING OUT
Midwest Thoroughbreds’ Unexplained will stretch out from seven furlongs to one mile when he takes on nine others in Churchill Downs’ 10th race, a first-level allowance optional claiming event over one mile on the main track, which trainer Chris Richard believes will be to his benefit.
“He has the looks of a horse that would really benefit from routing,” Richard said. “He doesn’t have a whole lot of gate speed. But I do like the one turn mile with him and I think he’s a really nice horse. He definitely has the looks of a horse that would benefit from two turns. This is a really competitive spot and looks like it could be a tough race, so we’re really going to have to run big on Saturday.”
While Richard has high hopes for the son of Ghostzapper, he is taking things slow with the horse and acknowledges that the horse would have to run a good race Saturday in order for him to start thinking big.
“We’d love to look for more competitive spots for him as a 3-year-old like the Smarty Jones and some of the other races at Oaklawn, but he has to prove himself [Saturday] before we start thinking like that. I’m not trying to get too far ahead of myself.”
Source: Churchill Downs
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