Mark Casse, the leading trainer at Woodbine racetrack in Toronto, has had many homes.
Born in Indianapolis, raised in Ocala, Fla., he was the leading trainer at Churchill Downs in 1988, where his career as a trainer first blossomed. Now, he lives in Toronto.
On Friday, he came home in front of 41,624 people, put his Delightful Mary into his favourite barn on the backstretch at Churchill Downs and finished third in the $2-million (all currency U.S.) Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies.
Casse had just started a business relationship with Oklahoma oil king John Oxley, a former chairman of the U.S. Polo Association, and had trained some homebreds for him, when he spotted Delightful Mary among 1,100 horses at an Ocala sale a year ago. He called Oxley and told him he'd found one of that bunch that he liked, a daughter of Limehouse.
The only catch was that she would cost a lot of money, Casse warned Oxley.
Oxley was game, made the final bid for the filly on the final day of the sale, and Delightful Mary was his for $500,000.
Casse said she always lived up to the purchase price.
"She's always shown she was something special," Casse said after the race, won by Awesome Feather, now undefeated in six starts.
Asked earlier in the week which filly he would most like to be deleted from the field, Casse said: Awesome Feather. Delightful Mary went off at 11 to 1.
"She's tough," Casse said. "But we were delighted. [Delightful Mary]was ready to run a big race and I think she did run a big race. We were third best today, but third in the Breeders' Cup, that's not bad."
Delightful Mary was one of the first purchases made by Casse and Oxley. Casse said it's an honour to train for the Oxleys.
"When somebody puts that much faith in you, it feels good when it pays off," he said.
The day wasn't so fruitful for Wyomia, who easily defeated Delightful Mary a month ago in the Mazarine Stakes at Woodbine. Everything went wrong from the beginning.
First, the handlers at the starting gate loaded Wyomia into the wrong stall in the $1-million Juvenile Fillies Turf. Wyomia was to be loaded in stall No. 8, but she went into No. 9. More Than Real, the eventual winner, owned by cook Bobby Flay, had initially been loaded into Wyomia's stall.
"They said she [Wyomia]was very quiet in there," trainer Danny Vella said after the race. "But she was a little confused after that, so she didn't break really hard."
Jockey Rafael Bejarano said the confusion continued.
Wyomia encountered a lot of traffic on the first, tight turn. "They were pushing her around a little bit and she lost a bit of ground there," Vella said. But with 6 1/2 furlongs to go, Wyomia got into gear and made an impressive bid on the inside to finish sixth at odds of 17 to 1.
"She ran huge," Vella said. Bejarano told him that the big filly was good enough to run with that crowd. Wyomia will head for a winter vacation. Vella said she'll get better the older she gets.
Quiet Oasis, owned by Paul Reddam, a native of Windsor, Ont., finished seventh in the Juvenile Fillies Turf, a neck behind Wyomia, while New Normal, trained by Woodbine regular Mark Frostad, was eighth.
In the $2-million Ladies Classic, Unrivalled Belle won, upsetting favoured three-year-old filly Blind Luck. Milwaukee Appeal, owned by Eugene George of Breslau, Ont., finished eighth in the field of 11, while Seeking the Title, owned by Charles Fipke of Edmonton, finished ninth.
The shocker was that one of the favourites, Life At Ten, showed little interest from the starting gate and finished last.
Miss Keller, trained by Roger Attfield, finished ninth of 11 in the $2-million Filly and Mare Turf.