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Casse's Proving Ground: How Woodbine Prepared Nitrogen For Breeders' Cup Glory
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- Casse's Proving Ground: How Woodbine Prepared Nitrogen For Breeders' Cup Glory
Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse's credentials at Woodbine racetrack in Toronto, Canada, are the foundation of his legacy in the sport.
The numbers don't lie: 17 Sovereign Awards as Canada's outstanding trainer, eight wins in Canadian Triple Crown races, including three in the King's Plate, six Canadian Horses of the Year, and a spot in Canada's Racing Hall of Fame to book-end his 2020 induction at the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
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But, for all the success that Casse's runners have achieved north of the border, the horses that used their time in Canada as a finishing school for bigger things have repeatedly taken the trainer to the top of the sport.
It happened again on Saturday at Keeneland when the Eclipse Award winner Nitrogen asserted herself as North America's top filly for another season with a convincing victory in the Breeders' Cup Distaff. In the days leading up to the race, Casse was quick to note how the roots of her success were first nurtured at Woodbine, like many of the trainer's notable runners before her.
"If you look at my champions, most of them have a footprint through Woodbine," Casse said. "I think Woodbine is probably the best place to develop horses in North America."
The formula has worked time and time again for the trainer. His Preakness Stakes winner War of Will made his first two starts at Woodbine, while Belmont Stakes winner Sir Winston spent the second half of his juvenile campaign north of the border.
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Catch a Glimpse prepped for her 2015 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf victory with a pair of races at Woodbine, and it was enough to earn her Canada's Horse of the Year title. Uncaptured made the first five starts of his 2-year-old campaign at Woodbine in 2012, then became a two-time graded stakes winner at Churchill Downs before securing that year's Sovereign Award as the country's Horse of the Year.
Nitrogen took her turn among that group two years ago, when she made her first two starts as a 2-year-old at Woodbine: a runner-up effort against males in a maiden special weight, followed by a third in the Grade 1 Natalma Stakes, which served as a prep for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, where she finished third.
Though Nitrogen went on to become one of North America's most versatile runners, as a multiple Grade 1 winner on the dirt and a nose away from Grade 1 glory on the turf, Casse said she shipped to Woodbine as a somewhat unspectacular prospect, and the track's setup and atmosphere helped her blossom.
"She went to Canada, and she had just kind of been okay," he said. "I sent her to Woodbine because when I looked at her pedigree, I thought, 'The Natalma (a one-mile turf race). This is a grass horse.' I send all my Canadian-breds there, it just makes more sense, but if I'm really trying to develop a horse, a lot of times, I send them up there. So, I think maybe running on the grass helped, but I'm positive Woodbine was a big factor, as well.
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"I'm a Tapeta fan," he continued, noting Woodbine's synthetic main surface. "I always have been, and it's one thing to run over Tapeta, it's another thing to get to train over it. We train over it every day up there, which also helps our turf horses. A lot of times, I will see a turf horse thrive there because they get to train over it every day."
Most importantly, though, Casse said the consistency was key. Woodbine runs a long, uninterrupted meet, from April to December, meaning horses based there can plausibly keep the same stall and be handled by the same people for most of the year, unlike other jurisdictions like Kentucky and New York that run on circuits where horses are regularly getting on vans and into new settings.
Beyond anything to do with the surroundings, though, Casse said the secret sauce to his Woodbine formula is the people handling the horses.
David Adams, Casse's head assistant of Casse's Woodbine string, has been working for the trainer since 2001. When Nitrogen stepped off the trailer, he wasn't as much concerned with the filly's perceived talent level, but her willingness to go along with the program, and in that way, she stood out.
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"I was like, 'Wow, what a nice filly,'" he said. "She did everything right, never was any problem or anything like that. Everybody in the barn loved that horse. She was so good to work with."
A native of Barbados and lifelong horseman who first arrived in Canada in 1998, Adams said working with patience was key when it comes to developing Casse's northern string.
Fev Rover, joined by trainer Mark Casse (center) and assistant trainer David Adams (right)Courtesy David Adams
"We try to keep one rider on them mostly, and then take that rider's input and just see how it goes from there," Adams said. "You just bring them along slowly. We've got some of the better exercise riders, so we just take our time with the horses and they tell us when they're ready."
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Adams has worked with an army of Casse runners during their decades together, but he used a recent example to display how the patient approach can pay dividends, in Silent Tactic, the team's main contender for this year's Triple Crown races.
"When he first got here last year, you could go back and see he was working in 1:05s and 1:04s (for five furlongs)," Adams said. "And then, for some reason, his light just went on, and (Casse) was just patient with him. He wasn't in a hurry to run, and it's just coming along slowly and then the light turned on. I said to Mark, 'He's ready to run. Let's go.'"
Silent Tactic won on debut in October of his 2-year-old season, taking a maiden special weight over Woodbine's Tapeta four months after he arrived at the track. That effort was followed by a second-place finish in the G3 Grey Stakes, and he developed into a top contender on this year's Oaklawn Park branch of the road to the Kentucky Derby with a win in the G3 Southwest Stakes and seconds in the G2 Rebel Stakes and G1 Arkansas Derby.
Silent TacticShelby Layne Ridgway/Coady Media
The most important part of consistency with horses, though, is making sure the same people see them day-in and day-out. Adams said the Woodbine string has about 35 employees and 75 horses, and he was far from the only one with a long tenure on the Casse team. That stems back to dealing with the boss.
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"You can't ask for a better person to work for," Adams said. "He's just so easy to get along with. You can just be honest with Mark. You make your mistakes, and then Mark's just like, 'You know what, just life goes on.'
"Everybody here at Woodbine just enjoys working for Mark," he continued. "All the employees have been here 15 years or more."
For Casse, that consistency on his Canadian staff is as much a part of his stable's branding as his red and white saddle towels, and others have taken notice. With another graduate of the program winning on the biggest stage, chances are good that attention will continue.
"I have grooms that have been with me 25 years," Casse said. "It's funny, if you listen to the commentators, when the horses come to the paddock, they'll say, 'Oh, Billy's the groom on this one.' They know if Billy's the groom, this is a good one.
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"I'm very proud of that," he continued. "I've been training for 47 years. We have maybe 15 people that have been with us 30-plus years, and luckily, now at this stage of my life, I have the ability to take even better care of those people that have been around. For me, that's one of the advantages of winning the races we won, and I try to spread that around. I try to take care of them, and they take care of the horses."
This story was originally published by Paulick Report on Nov 4, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Paulick Report as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
