Trainer Mark Casse has two of the seven entrants for Woodbine’s Summer Stakes (Can-IIT), both sons of the late sire Scat Daddy running for Conquest Stables. The one-mile turf race is worth $200,000 and goes as race 6 (3:50 p.m. ET) Sept. 18.
Conquest Farenheit, out of the Holy Bull mare Holy Smokie, is clearly the more highly touted of the pair as he’s the 2-1 morning-line favorite. He wired a seven-furlong maiden special weight field of locals Aug. 26 on the turf, winning by five lengths under Patrick Husbands, and has fired a bullet :59 work since, signaling his readiness to step forward. He’ll break from post 6.
Conquest Sure Shot is a 10-1 chance and will break from the hedge under Irad Ortiz Jr. A maiden winner second time out July 23, he closed for second in a seven-furlong turf allowance race Aug. 28. The winner was Tiz a Slam, who also goes in the Summer for Chiefswood Stable and trainer Roger Attfield. The two-time winner, by Tiznow , is the 9-2 fourth choice.
Drawing the attention of oddsmaker Ernie Perri is China Horse Club and WinStar Farm’s Good Samaritan, a head winner in his maiden voyage Aug. 13 going 1 1/16 miles on the turf at Saratoga Race Course. The 5-2 second choice earned a 87 Equibase Speed Figure at the Spa, the highest digit in the cast. Hall of Famer Bill Mott trains the son of Harlan’s Holiday.
At 3-1 is Harlan's Harmony, a grandson of Harlan’s Holiday who is also two-for-two so far in his brief career. A winner at Belmont, Curragh Stables’ Harlan’s Harmony then won Saratoga’s Skidmore Stakes at 51/2 furlongs on the turf Aug. 19 by a head. The runner-up in the photo was Wellabled, winner of last weekend’s Arlington-Washington Futurity (gr. III) in Chicago.
Both Good Samaritan and Harlan’s Harmony were bred by WinStar.