Sophs Gearing Up for Stakes

Our Caravan Pointing at Holy Bull… 
   Conditioner Michael Dilger is preparing Our Caravan (Daaher) for a start in the GII Holy Bull S. at Gulfstream Jan. 25. The bay was a decisive three-length debut winner at the Hallendale oval Dec. 14. “We got him back here after the race, checked him out and made sure he was OK,” Dilger said. “We had a look at the condition book and saw what our options were and decided for $400,000, he's a course and distance winner so let's give it a shot and see what happens.” The Anstu Stable colorbearer will be facing much more experienced sophomores in the Holy Bull, such as GII Nashua S. Winner Cairo Prince (Pioneerof the Nile). “Obviously he lacks experience, but by the same token we've had him in training for quite a while,” Dilger said. “He's not a green horse; he just lacks that racetrack experience. He's running against some pretty nice horses that have already proven themselves to be stakes caliber, so those are the two main concerns.” 

Casse Sends Coastline to Smarty Jones S… 
   Trainer Mark Casse will saddle Coastline (Speightstown) in Saturday's Smarty Jones S. at Oaklawn. The one-mile affair serves as a prep race for the GIII Southwest S. Feb. 17. The gray graduated on second asking at Keeneland Oct. 5 and returned to win the Street Sense S. at Churchill Downs Oct. 27. He finished eighth when last seen in the GIII Delta Downs Jackpot S. after stumbling at the start. “He lost all chances that day but if you go to his previous race [the Street Sense], it was a great race,” Casse said. “The second, third and fourth finishers came back to win their next starts and he beat them pretty convincingly. We gave him just a little bit of a break and then we sent him to Palm Meadows and he breezed a couple of times there. He's been at Oaklawn now for about 10 days and he worked really well the other day under Eurico [Da Silva].”