Mark Casse got Dynamic Sky for less than he expected and the colt has accomplished more than the trainer ever thought he would during his 2-year-old racing season. That’s why Casse is taking a shot with the son of Sky Mesa in the $2 million Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (gr. I) Nov. 3 at Santa Anita Park.
“Shanghai Bobby is going to be tough and Bob Baffert’s horses are going to be tough, but don’t count us out,” said the Canada-based conditioner.
Casse purchased Dynamic Sky for $25,243 at the 2011 Woodbine yearling sale conducted by the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society. Hill ‘n’ Dale Sales Agency, agent, consigned the dark bay or brown colt to the auction.
“We’re always looking for stretchy horses and I really liked him,” Casse said. “I had a lot bigger budget for him than I ended up having to pay. I thought he was a $100,000 horse. But at that time, I don’t think the Canadians had a strong opinion about Sky Mesa. Since then we’ve had a lot of success with that stallion.”
Dynamic Sky has never finished worse than third in three career races. Running in restricted events at Woodbine, he grabbed the show position in the Vandal Stakes and then defeated Honorable Guest by a head in the Simcoe Stakes.
“I thought he was an OK horse, but he’s surprised me,” said Casse. “In his first race he kind of got away slow and finished third to really good colt of ours named Uncaptured . Then, when I ran him back, he beat another colt I had by a head and they ran a 90 Beyer. It was impressive.”
In his most recent outing, Dynamic Sky finished second, beaten a length by Joha, in the Oct. 6 Dixiana Breeders’ Futurity (gr. I) at Keeneland.
“I thought he should have won,” Casse said. “He ran 72 feet farther than the winner. He was really wide and as he came into the lane, he looked like he was going to go by that other horse, but he lugged in. He’s just green, and it was his first two-turn race. I thought after that performance, he deserved a chance in the Breeders’ Cup.”
After three races over synthetic Polytrack surfaces, Dynamic Sky will compete on dirt for the first time in the Juvenile, but Casse isn’t worried.
“I think he’s probably dirt horse because he’s by Sky Mesa and out of a Distorted Humor mare," the trainer said.
Casse also has other reasons to be optimistic.
“He’s a little later developing type of a horse and he’s getting bigger and stronger each day,” he said. “Shanghai Bobby will probably be a great two-turn horse, but he hasn’t run two turns yet. Our horse ran a huge race for his first two-turn race. He had a lot of things go against him, but he never gave up.”
John Oxley owns Dynamic Sky, who was bred by Arosa Farms in Canada. The colt is 12-1 on the Juvenile’s morning line.