Woodbine hosts 5 graded stakes Saturday; see the fields

A pair of Grade 2 turf events, the Highlander and Nassau, share the stage with a trio of other graded stakes as part of the Canada Day racing festival Saturday at Woodbine.

The track will host a pair of standout fields in this year’s runnings of the one-mile Nassau, for fillies and mares, 4-year-olds and up, and the six-furlong Highlander, for 4-year-olds and up.

Fev Rover, Canada’s reigning horse of the year, returns to Woodbine with her sights set on a second straight Nassau title.

Trained by Mark Casse for owner Tracy Farmer, the 6-year-old daughter of Gutaifan-Laurelita, who also earned champion female turf horse recognition at the Sovereign Awards ceremony in April, exercised great patience before bursting ahead to a 4 1/4-length clearance in last year’s edition of the turf contest.

No stranger to dominant efforts, the multiple graded stakes-winning Fev Rover has a penchant for outdoing herself on the biggest of stages.

“I would say the (2023) E.P. Taylor is likely her best performance,” Casse said of the 2 1/4-length victory in the 1 1/4-mile affair. “I thought her race in the (2023) Beverly D. was excellent. She was able to do things her way and win that one. Her race in the (2023) Diana was very good. She was third, but maybe with a little better trip, she could have given the winner a run for the money.”

Casse, a dual Hall of Famer, has conditioned several standouts, including Eclipse Award winners Tepin, also a member of both the Canadian and U.S. horse racing hall of fames, World Approval and Classic Empire. So he knows a talented runner when he sees one.

His sense was no different with Fev Rover, but the conditioner with nearly 3,750 career wins understood this one’s ascent to greatness was not going to come overnight.

"It took a long time,” Casse said of the horse purchased by Farmer for nearly $1 million at the 2021 Tattersalls December Mares Sale. “She was as ornery as could be.

“When we first got her from Europe, we could hardly get her to go to the track. She went to Tracy’s farm when she first came and on the first day there, when they turned her out she cleared the fence, which no horse has ever done there before.”

Fev Rover’s fiery nature was once again on full display ahead of her most recent trip, the New York (G1) at Saratoga, where she battled through a bout of sensory overload to finish sixth.

“At Saratoga, horses go into a holding barn,” Casse noted. “From there to the paddock, there are people on both sides of you and it can get quite loud. It blows her mind. She can't handle that. When she made it to the paddock, she was really cranked up. I knew at that point it wasn't going to be easy for her.

“On the way to the gate (in the New York Stakes), she threw Javier (Castellano) off twice. Last year in the Diana (also at Saratoga), she threw a fit in the gate.”

The accomplished mare didn’t let a difficult load affect her in the Diana, however, as she was able to respond with a resilient third.

Back on familiar ground at Woodbine, home to six of her 10 North American starts, Fev Rover’s Nassau title defense begins with harnessing her emotions.

“Prior to the E.P. Taylor win, she ran in the Canadian (finishing fourth), and it was maybe the worst performance of her career,” Casse said. “She threw a fit before that race too.

“She came back a month later and won the E.P. Taylor easily. That day, she behaved.”

Casse, who joined Fev Rover in the Sovereign spotlight as last year’s outstanding trainer recipient, compared his dynamic competitor’s desire to win to that of two of the greatest athletes in recent memory.

"She's tough. Like one of the Williams sisters, Venus or Serena,” he said of the tennis stars. “Both those athletes are tough as nails, so strong and powerful. And that’s Fev Rover.”

Bred in Ireland by Manister House Stud, Fev Rover made her North American debut on July 24, 2022, in the Dance Smartly (G2) at Woodbine, finishing second behind 6-5 choice and fellow Emerald Isle native Wakanaka.

Fev Rover comes into the Nassau with a 21: 6-4-3 mark and $1,289,647 in career earnings.

Oceanic steps back into Highlander spotlight

Oceanic, a multiple graded stakes-placed son of Constitution-Rockin Girl, will look to go one better than he did in last year’s Highlander when he finished second by a half-length to Lucky Score.

Trained by Jordan Blair for Surfside Stables, 7-year-old Oceanic has compiled a 28: 5-3-3 record to go along with $426,632 in earnings.

“He's a really cool horse,” said Blair. “I'd say he’s laid-back but he's all business. He can be aggressive in the mornings and he likes his space in his stall, but he’s just playing, he’s not mean. Everybody that rides him in the morning and afternoon absolutely loves him. He’s got a nice way of going.”

The bay, who was seventh in last October’s Nearctic Stakes (G2), returns to Woodbine in winning form.

In his first start of the year, Oceanic circled the field late to take a 5 1/2-furlong allowance sprint over ground listed as good at Keeneland on April 19.

“He loves Keeneland,” Blair said “We try to go back there every year.”

Blair sees the E.P. Taylor course as an ideal fit for Oceanic.

“We think he likes Woodbine’s turf course just as much as Keeneland’s. He ran so well over both last year, even on the yielding going and the second go-round. That’s a major factor as far as coming back up. He seems to really love that course.”

Bred in Kentucky by DP Racing, Oceanic debuted with a second-place effort on April 1, 2020, in a six-furlong dirt race at Tampa Bay Downs. He broke his maiden in his seventh start, a 4 1/2-length score at five panels over the Tampa Bay turf on Jan. 17, 2021.

His lone stakes victory came in last year’s Da Hoss Stakes. He was second in the Woodford Reserve (G2) next time out and then contested the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, finishing 13th to Caravel.

Blair is hoping the third time at Woodbine is the charm, where his veteran campaigner can go from multiple graded-stakes placed to graded-stakes winner.

“For a while there, he was just a speed only, 'catch me if you can' type of horse, but he’s really changed every year that he’s gotten older, to relax off the pace and make one big run. We always thought he was a nice horse. There was a time where I had my doubts, and then as soon as we got him sprinting on the turf, it changed everything for him.

“He’s coming into this doing really well. We’ve taken a different approach this year than we have in years past now that he's getting older. We’ve had a lot of years to learn about him. We’re spacing his races out. He seems to run very well off of freshening and training rather than more races. He’s been training excellent, so he's coming in in really good shape.”

Mark Casse sends out the multiple graded stakes winner Filo Di Arianna and three-time winner Step Forward. Saffie Joseph Jr. has a pair of hopefuls, multiple graded-stakes placed County Final and Saratoga Flash.

Sid Attard won three straight editions of the Highlander, with Signature Red in 2010 and 2011, and Smokey Fire in 2012.