NetJets Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies

All summer long, at Saratoga Race Course, Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse talked about a young filly named Wonder Wheel whenever he could. If you listened to Casse’s Wonder Wheel spiel long enough as summer slowly turned to fall, you would swear this 2-year-old baby was about to become the second coming of Ruffian.

On a glorious Nov. 4 afternoon that felt more like the first Friday of July than the first one in November, Casse could breathe easy.

All the stumping he did for the daughter of Into Mischief climaxed with a rousing victory in the $2 million NetJets Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Keeneland.

Ridden by Tyler Gaffalione — who won his first Breeders’ Cup race in his 35th career start — Wonder Wheel came from behind to win by three lengths.

She has now won four of five career starts.

“Absolutely,” Casse said when asked if he put himself out on a limb after those summer sermons. “I kind of put a little pressure on myself. There was a few times when I said, ‘now why did I do that?’ You know me. I tell you the way I feel. And that’s the way I felt. I wasn’t holding anything back.”

Casse was compelled to sing the Wonder Wheel song as soon as the young horse came into his barn. The way she trained, the way she carried herself, the way she stood in her stall was just something special.

In the 1 1/16-mile Juvenile Fillies, Wonder Wheel had to show Casse a new dimension to her repertoire. She had won the Darley Alcibiades Stakes at Keeneland on Oct. 7 going gate-to-wire.

On Friday, Wonder Wheel and Gaffalione did not secure good early position and found themselves 11th in the 13-horse field for much of the race. But, when the real running had to start, Wonder Wheel found her gear approaching the far turn.

“When this filly broke and everyone else kind of went in front of her, I was very concerned,” said Jon Green, who operates D. J. Stable, the winning owner, with his father, Leonard.

Not to worry. Casse shared a bit of the same concern, but he knew how good this filly was, and he stayed somewhat confident. And then the horse and the rider got the job done.