Woodbine Mile 2016: Tepin Aims to Keep on Rolling

Among the thirty horses nominated to the $1 million, Grade 1 Ricoh Woodbine Mile 2016, champion turf mare Tepin is the one that stands out the most. Though she started at two, it wasn’t until her four-year-old year that Tepin really hit it big.

Bred by Machmer Hall, the Bernstein-Life Happened mare sold to Mr. Robert E. Masterson at the 2012 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale for $140,000. She began her racing career under the care of trainer Mark Casse as a two-year-old and started down the dirt path. Tepin won two of four starts in 2013, breaking her maiden on the former all-weather track at Keeneland and winning the Grade 3 Delta Downs Princess.

She finished second to last in her first outing as three-year-old before switching surfaces. Her turf debut was no sign of what was to come though. She was last in the Grade 3 Regret, redeemed herself to be second in the Grade 2 San Clemente, and was last again the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks.

When 2015 rolled around, Tepin’s track performance transformed. She opened up her four-year-old year with an allowance/optional claiming win at Gulfstream Park before taking Grade 2 Distaff Turf Mile and scoring her first Grade 1 in the Just a Game.

With three victories in a row, Tepin headed to Saratoga where she finished second in both the Grade 1 Diana and the Grade 2 Ballston Spa. Those two defeats did not stop the rising star though. She went on to an even bigger win streak than before.

Back at Keeneland, Tepin racked up two Grade 1 wins. She captured the First Lady and went on to impress in the Breeders’ Cup Mile by 2 ¼ lengths over the boys. Tepin’s Breeders’ Cup win was her 2015 finale, but she and her growing fan base were not done making noise.

Now five-years-old, Tepin kicked off the 2016 season the way she ended the year before. She won both the Grade 3 Endeavor and Grade 2 Hillsborough before heading back to Keeneland. There Tepin added the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley to her list of accomplishments and kept her Keeneland record a perfect four-for-four. She also took the Distaff Turf Mile for the second year in a row.

Casse and Mr. Masterson next set their eyes on the Grade 1 Queen Anne Stakes during the Royal Ascot meet, where Tepin would face her biggest test yet. She had already beaten the boys state side, but in England she would meet some of the world’s best turf horses while facing new challenges. Tepin was to contest a straight mile and run clockwise, the direction of European racing. There were also concerns of not being allowed to use Lasix or a nasal strip. Despite all of this and the soft turf, Tepin overcame her journey across the big pond and beat out 12 international competitors.

After a well-deserved break, Tepin has been working up to face the boys again in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile. She put it two five-furlong bullet works on Saratoga’s turf training track going :58.44 and :59.88. While Casse is quite familiar with Woodbine, it will be Tepin’s first time racing at the Canadian track. The race is run the North American counter-clockwise direction and features one turn, but the European style with a quarter-mile homestretch has caused good horses to lose in the past.

One horse that is familiar with the course, is last year’s winner and familiar rival, Mondialiste.

Mondialiste is no stranger to Tepin. Twice they have met, and twice Tepin has won. The six-year-old son of Galileo finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Mile and was 11th in the Queen Anne. He rebounded by finishing second in the Grade 2 York Stakes before coming back to North America to capture the Grade 1 Arlington Million. Though his record does not hold seven straight wins like his biggest competition’s, his latest victory combined with his Woodbine Mile experience makes him a force to reckon with. It’s also possible Mondialiste and Tepin could meet again in this year’s renewal of the Breeders’ Cup Mile come November.

The way Tepin handled the Queen Anne suggests that she should handle the Woodbine course just fine. Should she win, she’ll bump her win streak up to eight, her lifetime record to 13 wins in 21 starts, and she’ll earn her sixth Grade 1. The way the champion turf mare has been running, Mondialiste and other competitors will have to bring their 'A' game in order to stop the Tepin train that keeps on rolling.

By Christine Oser