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| Trainer Mark Casse with Owner John C. Oxley |
TORONTO – It's the one
race in Canada that has eluded him in 35 years of training thoroughbreds.
Five-time Sovereign Award winning trainer Mark Casse has
achieved almost everything possible when it comes to thoroughbred racing in
Canada. The one missing victory in a training career approaching 10,000 starts
is a win in the Queen’s Plate, Canada’s most famous horse race.
The first leg of Canada's triple crown on Sunday afternoon
at Woodbine Racetrack will be the 154th running of the $1 million race and
Casse will send four starters to the gate seeking that elusive first Plate
victory. He is winless in 13 attempts at capturing the Gallop for the Guineas
with his best finish being a second place result in 2011 with 61-1 shot
Hippolytus.
Last year he thought he had a solid shot at getting the
monkey off his back with his filly Dixie Strike, who came back to win the
Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie after finishing third in the Plate. "I
decided after last year when I thought I had good shot to win it, that I'm not
making any more predictions. I'm starting to feel like Todd Pletcher does
in the Kentucky Derby," said Casse.
His two top chances are owned by John C. Oxley, who four
years ago started using Casse regularly with much success. The filly Spring in
the Air has faced top competition, including three Grade 1 fields over the past
year, looks to have a big shot at getting Casse into the Plate winner's circle.
"Of all four of the horses, the horse training the best so far is Spring
in the Air. If she could come up with the effort she gave in the [Grade 1]
Alcibiades last year, she may be our best chance."
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