By Canadian Press

Trainer Mark Casse comfortable with War of Will being a Derby favourite

Mar 19, 2019 | 3:50 PM

Mark Casse is comfortable heading to the US$1-million Louisiana Derby with a bull’s eye firmly on his back.

The Casse-trained War of Will is the early 6-5 favourite for the 1 1/8-mile race, which goes Saturday at Fair Grounds in New Orleans. The American-bred three-year-old colt sits atop the Kentucky Derby points standings (60) following impressive wins in the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes on Jan. 19 (four lengths) and Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes on Feb. 16 (2 1/4 lengths).

On Saturday, War of Will will attempt to become the first horse to sweep the three Derby qualifiers at Fair Grounds since International Star in 2015.

Casse, 58, has long been a dominant presence in thoroughbred circles. He’s been named Canada’s top trainer nine times and amassed over 2,000 career victories, including all three legs of the Canadian Triple Crown (Queen’s Plate, Prince of Wales, Breeders’ Stakes), the Woodbine Mile as well as four Breeders’ Stakes events.

However, one title that’s eluded Casse is the Kentucky Derby, the opening leg of American racing’s Triple Crown. A win by War of Will on Saturday would go a long way towards establishing him as the Derby favourite.

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“I think I’d just as soon be the one to beat,” Casse said during a conference call Wednesday. “That means you’ve accomplished a lot.

“I’ll take being the favourite every time. You’re supposed to have a better shot at winning. Does it make me a little more nervous? Maybe a tad.”

War of Will has won his last three starts and finished in the money in five-of-seven career races while earning $491,569.

“He’s a beautiful horse . . . he has class,” Casse said. “He’s laid back, he knows his job and he does it.

“When you see him you say, ‘Wow.’”

Jockey Tyler Gaffalione has ridden War of Will in the three wins, which have all come on dirt after making his first four starts on turf last year. Gaffalione was also second in the ’17 Louisiana Derby aboard Patch.

Casse said two factors that help make War of Will so good are his tactical speed and overall versatility, elements that simply can’t be taught.

“He’s an extremely smart horse so he can do about anything you want with him to,” Casse said. “Many horses will run and need things to happen for them to be successful and then there are horses that just do things to make themselves successful.

“That’s where he lies. If no one went to the lead (Saturday) he’ll be on the lead. If somebody really wants it then he’ll be stalking right behind them. That’s what makes him so good and effective.”

War of Will captured the Risen Star Stakes despite drawing the No. 13 post in the 14-horse field.

“When we drew the No. 13 hole, many people said, ‘Oh, oh,’” Casse said. “But I said to (owner) Gary Barber at the time, ‘That’s good. It’s just another learning experience. If he’s as good as we think he is then this is something he needs to learn to overcome.’ I thought he handled it with flying colours.”

That performance impressed Tom Amoss, the trainer for Roiland, who was third in Risen Star and will also run in the 11-horse Derby field Saturday.

“He’s got that quality that’s so important which is tactical speed,” Amoss said of War of Will. “That (Risen Star win) was a signal to me that this horse is a very very good horse.

“To still have that much energy at the end of the race, I thought that was a real welcome-to-the-party call.”

After Saturday’s race there’ll still be six weeks until the Derby, which goes May 4 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. That’s an unusually long stretch, but Casse isn’t concerned.

“That (six weeks) is the bad news,” he said. “The good news is this horse is so easy to train and he does whatever we want him to do that we can easily adapt.

“Six weeks is not going to be a problem. Big effort on Saturday then we’ll need the biggest effort of his career but I feel confident he’ll be ready for it.

“I think right now it (Kentucky Derby) is kind of our race and when I say race (he means) favouritism for the Derby. He’s got to come and give a big performance Saturday, everybody’s going to be watching him. I think if he were to win and do it impressively it would be tough to not make him the (Derby) favourite.”

Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press