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| Mark Casse |
Stats Updated Through: 11/19/2009
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| 2009 Stats: | | Starts | | 549 | | 1st-2nd-3rd | | 79-75-81 | | Earnings (Rank) | | $4,945,447 (17) | | Win % (In-The-Money %) | | 14% (42%) |
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Top Associated Horses:
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Marchfield,
Tasty Temptation,
Gallant,
Pool Play,
Drunken Love,
Closing Speed |
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Biography and Highlights:
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- Born: Feb. 14, 1961, Indianapolis, Ind.
- Residence: Kleinburg, Ontario, Canada, and Ocala, Fla.
- Family: wife, Tina; seven children: Cheryl, Norman, Joel, Alex, Camille, Kyle and Colby. Norman is a top assistant to his father
- Web site: www.casseracing.com
- Racing Background: Father, Norman, retired as the chairman of the board of the Ocala Breeders’ Sales in 2006 and is a 40-year-plus veteran of Thoroughbred owning, breeding and training
- Racing Career: Immersed himself in Thoroughbred racing when he was only 12. A trip in a horse van with his father to see Secretariat win the Kentucky Derby in 1973 in track record time really hooked him ... Began running his father's Cardinal Hill Farm when he was 15 ... Officially began training at 18 and won his first race in 1979 at Keeneland ... Casse now operates a stable of over 50 horses based at Woodbine in Ontario, Canada ... He also sends a division to the Fair Grounds in New Orleans and plans to extend the operation to Santa Anita in California in late 2008. "We changed our philosophy at the end of 2007," he said. "We used to delay the start of racing until April 1st at Woodbine but we ran at the Fair Grounds this past winter and plan to have an even bigger presence there this year. For the first time, I'm planning to add more of a stable at Santa Anita so we're becoming more of a year round operation"... He and his wife also operate a training center in Ocala, Moonshadow Farm ... He is the former private trainer and director of operations for the massive Mockingbird Farm operation, which owner Harry Mangurian dispersed in 1999. Casse then went from 900 horses to less than 50 … Set a Churchill Downs’ spring-meet record with 29 victories in 1988, a mark that stood for more than a decade before Dale Romans eclipsed it … Won the training title at Woodbine in 2006 by earnings and in 2007 by wins and was a top five finisher in each of the past seven years ... In the past couple of years, Casse has added clients that include Will Farish, Stonerside Farm, WinStar Farm, The Vinery, a partnership called Woodford Racing LLC put together by Bill Farish, as well as Eugene Melnyk, who purchased Mangurian's Mockingbird property and renamed it Winding Oaks. In 2008, he added Overbrook Farm and William Heiligbrodt as owners. "I'm very proud of that," he said … Casse has trained four Sovereign Award winners – Exciting Story (1999 2-year-old colt), Added Edge (2002 2-year-old colt), Kimchi (2006 3-year-old filly), and Sealy Hill (2007 3-year-old filly, turf female and Horse of the Year) – and won back-to-back Sovereign Award as Canada's top trainer in 2006 and ’07 … Scored one of his biggest career victories when Exciting Story upset the 2001 Metropolitan Mile (G1) at Belmont Park … Also trained stakes winners Dark Ending, Precise End and End Sweep, 1994 Kentucky Cup Sprint winner who finished 11th in that year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint. Other Breeders’ Cup appearances came with Jealous Forum (eighth, 2001 Juvenile Fillies), Higher World (12th, 2004 Juvenile Fillies), Skip Code (ninth, 2006 Juvenile), and Clearly Foxy (sixth, 2007 Juvenile Fillies) … Until the last couple of years, was best known for his work with young horses and sprinters. Casse explained: “At Mockingbird, we always bred for the 2-year-old sales. You need speed to win 2-year-old races. What we didn’t sell, I ended up training. That’s why we ended up training so many good 2-year-olds and sprinters." ... His method of operation has changed with his new client roster. "Things have changed dramatically," he said. "The owners I train for now have given me the opportunity to go to the next level and develop classic horses. I am now developing and working with a lot of nice older horses and they are really paying off." ... Those older horses include Seaside Retreat, who ran 10th in the 2006 Kentucky Derby, Top Notch Lady, who ran in the 2006 Kentucky Oaks, Kimchi, who took the first two legs of the Canadian Triple Tiara (Triple Crown for fillies) in 2006, Marchfield, winner of the $500,000 Breeders' Stakes in Canada in 2007, and Sealy Hill, a Melnyk homebred, who, in 2007, became the first filly to win the Canadian Triple Tiara since the series was inaugurated in 1999 ... Sealy Hill easily won the first and last legs, but had been disqualified and placed third in the second leg, the Bison City Stakes. That disqualification was overturned via appeal on September 27, 2007, therefore giving the crown to the filly ... Clearly Foxy was purchased by Overbrook Farm after she ran in the 2008 American Oaks at Hollywood Park and has been idle since. "She was injured and has been on the farm," he said. "I hope I get to train her again now that Overbrook is a client."... Top horses in 2008 include Turf War, Miner's Claim, Skip A Date, Seaside Retreat, Sealy Hill, Retraceable, Best Stories, and Stimulus Plan, whom he named cleverly during the country's economic crunch because the colt's sire is Jump Start ... Casse takes a great deal of pride in his operation and the results it generates but 2008 has been an uncharacteristic campain, "This year has been a really trying and strange year. It's the most frustrating year we've had in a long time," he said. "We had a lot of injuries and a lot of strange things have happened. I'm not complaining because we've won a lot of races and earned almost $4 million through September, but it's been a strange, trying, and frustrating year."... Through Oct. 13, 2008, Casse ranked 19th in the North American trainer's standings with 67 victories from 469 starts and his runners had earned $4,752,538.
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NOTE: Stats include North American and selected international races. Click here to view selected international race list.
Biographies on jockeys, trainers and owners are from the Breeders' Cup World Championships events from 2001 through 2009, and are intended as informational resources. Biographies will be updated if an individual is again a participant in the Breeders' Cup World Championships.
Biographies are available for most horses appearing in the top 100 money earnings list, and/or for those who are frequently making headlines in the news starting with the 2006 Triple Crown season.
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