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Casse Runners Headline Herecomesthebride, Colonel Liam

The Mark Casse-trained Vixen and Mi Bago look to add another stakes win to their CVs.

Vixen wins the Sweetest Chant Stakes at Gulfstream Park

Vixen wins the Sweetest Chant Stakes at Gulfstream Park

Coglianese Photos/Ryan Thompson

Trainer Mark Casse will seek to continue his dominance in Gulfstream Park's $215,000 Herecomesthebride Stakes (G3T) March 1 when he saddles a trio of runners led by D. J. Stable and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' Vixen. A score in Saturday's Herecomesthebride will give Casse his fourth winner since 2016 in the mile turf contest for sophomore fillies. The Hall of Fame conditioner captured the race most recently last year with Resolute Racing's Pounce.

Vixen, a daughter of red-hot second-crop sire Vekoma , dazzled in her season debut last time out, exerting her class with a decisive 2 1/4-length victory in the Sweetest Chant Stakes over the Hallandale Beach, Fla., oval. Grade 1-placed last year as a 2-year-old in the Natalma Stakes (G1T) at Woodbine, the filly stopped the clock in a stakes-record time of 1:40.32 for the 1 1/16-mile Sweetest Chant.

John Velazquez, Vixen's rider in her last three outings, retains the mount.

Since posting her first black-type win, Vixen has returned to the work tab, breezing a sharp half-mile in :46.10 Feb. 21 over the turf course at nearby Palm Meadows Training Center.

Vixen is just one of three fillies for Casse, who will also send out recent Gulfstream maiden winners Classic Q and Smudge, a $525,000 yearling purchase for D. J. Stable.

Godolphin homebred Civetta, a narrow third to Vixen's stablemate Nitrogen in the Jan. 4 Ginger Brew Stakes, adds blinkers for trainer Brendan Walsh as she goes for her first graded score. A half sister to the multiple grade 1 winner Santin and by leading sire Into Mischief , Civetta became her dam Sentiero Italia's second stakes winner when she prevailed by a neck in Gulfstream's Wait a While Stakes Nov. 28.

"She's always performed well for us," said Godolphin USA's director of bloodstock Michael Banahan. "She's a sweet little filly, not very big, and we sort of felt that turf was the right spot for her. She's got a great turn of foot, but you have to sort of produce her late. We've got the right man on her in Irad (Ortiz Jr.) so hopefully he'll be able to do that Saturday. It's a step up in quality to a graded stakes race but we're anxious to see what she can do. Hopefully, it can be a springboard to a nice year for her on the turf."

Entries: Herecomesthebride S. (G3T)

Gulfstream Park, Saturday, March 1, 2025, Race 4

  • Grade IIIT
  • 1m
  • Turf
  • $215,000
  • 3 yo Fillies
  • 1:01 PM (local)
PPHorseJockeyWgtTrainerM/L
1Classic Q (KY)Keeneland Sales GraduateDylan Davis119Mark E. Casse-
2Mrs Worldwide (FL)Luis Saez121Brian A. Lynch-
3Smudge (KY)Keeneland Sales GraduateTyler Gaffalione119Mark E. Casse-
4Ramsey Pond (KY)Keeneland Sales GraduateEdgard J. Zayas119Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.-
5Vixen (KY)Keeneland Sales GraduateJohn R. Velazquez121Mark E. Casse-
6Civetta (KY)Irad Ortiz, Jr.121Brendan P. Walsh-
7Daisy Flyer (KY)Jorge Ruiz119George R. Arnold II-
8Special Aviator (KY)Edwin Gonzalez121Rohan Crichton-
9Bellavinino (KY)Keeneland Sales GraduateLanfranco Dettori119Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.-
10Grade A (FL)Junior Alvarado119Jeremiah O'Dwyer-

Mi Bago chases Graded Cred in Colonel Liam Stakes

Gary Barber's Mi Bago steps into the starting gate as the sole stakes winner in a wide-open field of 10 colts and geldings in the one-mile Colonel Liam Stakes on the turf later on the card.

New York-bred Mi Bago has, in fact, won three stakes for trainer Mark Casse, including back-to-back black-type victories in Gulfstream's Pulpit and Dania Beach stakes.

Four-for-six lifetime, the consistent Vekoma colt, victorious in distances of five furlongs to a mile and 70 yards, secures the services of Irad Ortiz Jr. in his graded debut Saturday.

Entries: Colonel Liam S.

Gulfstream Park, Saturday, March 1, 2025, Race 7

  • STK
  • 1m
  • Turf
  • $215,000
  • 3 yo
  • 2:34 PM (local)
PPHorseJockeyWgtTrainerM/L
1Wakan (KY)Edwin Gonzalez118Carlos Luis Perez-
2Bakers Street (KY)Keeneland Sales GraduatePaco Lopez118Antonio Sano-
3Enterdadragon (KY)Keeneland Sales GraduateDylan Davis118Jose Francisco D'Angelo-
4George Briggs (NY)Joel Rosario118Chad C. Brown-
5Fire Pit (KY)Keeneland Sales GraduateEmisael Jaramillo120Guadalupe Preciado-
6Forged Steel (KY)Edgard J. Zayas120Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.-
7Win With Faith (FL)Miguel Angel Vasquez118Ronald B. Spatz-
8Mi Bago (NY)Irad Ortiz, Jr.120Mark E. Casse-
9Emergence (KY)Keeneland Sales GraduateLuis Saez118Brad H. Cox-
10Smooth Breeze (NY)John R. Velazquez118Jorge R. Abreu-