John Oxley's Airoforce (Colonel John), winner of the GII Kentucky Jockey Club S., and Conquest Stables' Conquest Big E (Tapit), who captured a Churchill allowance Saturday, ship to Palm Meadows Tuesday with the rest of trainer Mark Casse's runners.
“They'll probably get a couple of weeks of just hanging out in the round pen,” assistant trainer Norman Casse said. “They won't do any serious training for the rest of the year.”
The two talented juveniles have Casse looking forward to next year.
“It's just an exciting time for us,” Casse said. “We're excited to be a part of two good horses that are owned by two really good owners. Anytime you have any type of big 2-year-old–even if they haven't started–you hope that they would put you in a good position where you can at least map out a plan to get them to the GI Kentucky Derby. We know the reality and we're still a long way away and they still have to continue to get better, but all indications show that they're good horses and we have something to be excited about going into Palm Meadows.”
Airoforce, a debut winner at Kentucky Downs in September, won the GIII Bourbon S. in his second start before missing by a neck when runner-up in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf. He was making his first start on dirt in Saturday's Kentucky Jockey Club.
“He was a little further behind so by the time he came from our farm to the racetrack it was too late to think about Saratoga,” Casse said of Airoforce. “That may have ended up being a blessing in disguise for him. He got to train here all summer. Churchill is a really good place to train during the summer. People take it for granted because all the Saratoga horses get all the hype. It's really easy to say looking back now but he was touting us all off.”
Conquest Big E, who was getting a confidence booster in Saturday's allowance tally after finishing eighth behind Nyquist (Uncle Mo) in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, and Airoforce lead the Casse barn's deep juvenile bench.
“We've got a lot of good 2-year olds,” Casse said. “The thing is just sorting them out to see if they're dirt horses. Conquest Daddyo (Scat Daddy) is a good grass horse that ran a sneaky good race [fourth] in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf. We have Conquest Enforcer (Into Mischief) that ran a real good race at Woodbine [he won the Oct. 11 Cup and Saucer], but he's another one that we don't know if he's a dirt horse or not, but he's a real talented 2-year-old. Moonlight Sky (Sky Mesa) broke her maiden here by 10 lengths [Nov. 19 video]. Her biggest challenge is going to be getting her to mature mentally. Her head isn't wrapped around too tight, but she's very talented. Siding Spring (Warrior's Reward) [third in the GIII Bourbon and 10th in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile] is another one that we're really high on.”
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