Kentucky Oaks: Norm Casse can fulfill a dream with Southlawn

Louisville, Ky.

There is an adage in the sporting landscape that suggests those achieving personal success shouldn’t be stunned when they reach the ultimate goal they’ve long targeted.

Act like you’ve been there before, the mantra says, because when you spend years honing your craft in hopes of hitting a certain stratosphere, you shouldn’t be overwhelmed when you start breathing the very air you sought to reside in. For trainer Norm Casse, it’s a philosophy he has embraced to a tee of late, both in terms of his actual history and the fact the very pressure residing on his shoulders is exactly what he hoped for when he came to a fateful decision some six years ago.

The walkover, the stress of the draw, the pageantry that comes with having a contender for one of Thoroughbred racing’s most prestigious races. All of it is muscle memory for the third-generation horseman, the product of having been the top assistant to his Hall of Fame father for over a decade. He wouldn’t have left his dad’s shedrow and gone out on his own in 2018 if he didn’t believe he was supremely prepped to handle a solo operation and the emotional drains that come with it.

But for as much as he trusted his own ability and readied himself for the scenario that is set to come to fruition in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on Friday, the younger Casse hasn’t been immune to a moment or two of wonderment this week at his current reality.

“Going into it, if I was just another first-time (Kentucky) Derby or Oaks trainer then I would probably be a lot more nervous,” Casse said. “I don't want to say I've been there done that, but I've been involved in some really important races and big-time races. But still, the significance of it does start weighing down on you.

“Like, this would be a dream come true. So I'm not going to lie and say I'm not nervous or anything. I want to win this race.”

When you grow up in Louisville the son of a horse trainer, the notion of having a starter beneath the Twin Spires on either the first Friday or Saturday in May is the equivalent of one day being on the field for the Super Bowl. Casse will get to stand on the proverbial 50-yard-line with the ball in his hands Friday when he saddles his first career Kentucky Oaks (G1) starter in Robert Masterson’s graded-stakes winner Southlawn.

Six years ago, when Casse announced he was departing his father Mark Casse’s operation and opening his own public stable, he did so after more than 10 years of helping develop one of the most successful and depth-laden programs in the sport. The champions crafted under his watch included the likes of 2015 Canadian horse of the year Catch a Glimpse, 2016 champion juvenile male Classic Empire, and, of course, two-time Eclipse Award winner and Hall of Famer Tepin, one of the top turf females in North American history.

Less than a year into hanging out his own shingle, Norm Casse found himself in the familiar position of having the privilege of pressure for one of racing’s biggest stages when he had his first Breeders’ Cup starter in 2018 Juvenile Fillies Turf entrant, Belle Laura. There were subsequent sparks of progress that followed, including Hard Legacy taking the 2019 Regret Stakes (G3) to give Casse his first graded win.

The grind of having to start from scratch, however, after previously handling a steady flow of top stock is one he admits takes its toll. There were hard moments of being frustrated at the lack of starters, of being bored on stakes days with no entrants to tend to. What Casse had to fall back on were a couple key points: He knew he had the skillset to capitalize whenever prime opportunity showed itself, and he had a client in Masterson, who owned and campaigned Tepin, that was going to remain steadfast in his support.

“We had a few lean years together, just unlucky with some horses that didn’t pan out or whatever. But (Masterson) continued to be confident in what I was doing,” Casse said. “He was the only owner that came over with me from dad, so he obviously trusted me from the very beginning. And it just seems to be almost meant to be that here we are in the Oaks together.”

Advancement even at a gradual rate is improvement, nonetheless. Over the past couple of seasons, Casse has been inching the needle forward on his own operation, winning his first stakes at Saratoga with Pretty Birdie taking the 2021 Schuylerville (G3) and going over $2 million in single-season earnings for the first time last year.

Right around the time he was wrapping up his 2022 season, Casse was evaluating a bay daughter of Pioneerof the Nile in his care who kept flashing ability without results to back it up. Purchased for $290,000 by Masterson out of the 2021 Keeneland September yearling sale, Southlawn broke her maiden handily at Ellis Park at second asking but was off the board in three subsequent starts.

After a fifth-place run on the turf in an allowance race at Churchill Downs on Nov. 20., jockey Tyler Gaffalione noted to Casse he thought Southlawn’s run was stymied because she was having trouble getting her air. They took her to Fair Grounds and performed a myectomy to correct the breathing problem. Since that surgery, Southlawn has been airing out her foes, winning both of her starts in 2023 by a combined 11 1/4 lengths.

“This is a filly we liked from the beginning, we always thought she was talented,” Casse said. “Tyler came back after her second turf start and said she was displacing really badly. So we performed the myectomy and … she’s been undefeated since we’ve done it, so clearly we did something right. None of it has been a surprise. I guess it’s a surprise that we’re in the Oaks because at the beginning of the year, we didn’t think we would be in this position. But we always knew she was talented.”

The first sign that Southlawn had turned the corner for the better came when she won a 1 1/16-mile allowance optional claiming test at Fair Grounds on Feb. 17 by eight lengths in front-running style. That race marked the first time she was paired with jockey Reylu Gutierrez, and the chemistry between the two was something Casse took note of when he opted to give the duo a chance in the March 25 Fair Grounds Oaks (G2).

Although he knew better to tip his hand publicly, Casse said he told his wife, FanDuel TV analyst and reporter Gabby Gaudet, ahead of the Fair Grounds Oaks that she would do well to start picking out what she wanted to wear at Churchill Downs come May 5. His filly protégé then set off one of the more emotional celebrations of her trainer’s still burgeoning career when she rallied past graded-stakes winner Pretty Mischievous in the lane en route to a widening 3 1/4-length triumph.

“She had just trained so well, and her previous race was so good, I figured even if she came back and ran the same that she ran in the allowance race, we would be really tough to beat in the Fair Grounds Oaks,” Casse said. “I feel like Reylu really gets along with her and feels what is best in the race. He lets her get comfortable early on, and that makes a big difference. I don’t think we could be any more excited about the horse we are bringing to (the Oaks). I think she’s run two legitimately good races as a 3-year-old this year, and I think she stacks up against anybody.”

Casse’s confidence is not just trainer spiel. This year’s Oaks field features a good group of fillies headlined by morning-line favorite Wet Paint, but none have established any clear authority in the division. The only two Grade 1 winners in the field are Defining Purpose, upset winner of the Ashland Stakes at Keeneland in April, and reigning champion juvenile filly Wonder Wheel, winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies and trained by none other than Mark Casse.

When the post positions were drawn for the $1.25 million Kentucky Oaks, fate decided to kick the built-in narrative up a notch by having Southlawn and Wonder Wheel land side by side in posts 4 and 5, respectively. It was the manifestation of what Norm Casse set out to achieve a handful of years ago, being on equal footing with the man and mentor who helped teach him the game.

He knew it was coming. He just had to brace himself for the full brunt of its impact.

“We're preparing for this just like we would prepare for any other races,” Norm Casse said. “If we win, I'm going act like we've been there before but really it will be the first time I’ve been there with my name. I probably will cry. I will try my hardest not to, but it's probably not going to happen.”