Isabeau’s Elegance is certainly in the hands of the right trainer, if you’re looking for Woodbine Oaks success. After all, conditioner Mark Casse has won the Oaks twice, with Kimchi in 2006, then Sealy Hill in 2007. He also finished second to Milwaukee Appeal last year with Tasty Temptation. And when an owner races under the banner Classic Oaks Farm, the filly must surely be in the right race, right?
Casse knows this is quite a challenge, but feels that Ontario-bred Isabeau’s Elegance, a daughter of Dixie Union, is on the improve after only three career starts, the latest a maiden breaker over another Oaks rival, Oil Painting.
“We’re behind the eight-ball a little bit,” said Casse. “She doesn’t have the experience, but she’s coming along and I think she has a lot of ability. But this is going to be a very tough race.”
“I’ve never even met the owner, Donna McLaughlin,” continued Casse. “She’s going to be coming up for the race. She has a farm in Ocala. As I understand it, they bought this filly as a weanling for $170,000 and tried to sell her as a two-year-old but it just never panned out.”
“I got her last fall. She had some little issues and we never got to run her. We finally got her about ready to run but then the (Woodbine) meet was over, so we took her to Florida.”
Isabeau’s Elegance debuted February 21 at Tampa in a mile and one-eighth maiden contest on the lawn, eventually finishing a non-threatening eighth. “I did that (started her going long on the grass) on purpose, just to give her a chance to hopefully make the Oaks,” explained Casse.
She subsequently returned to Woodbine and finished second in a six and one-half furlong maiden event, before stretching out to one and one-sixteenth miles on May 21, when she got the best of Oil Painting by a nose.
“It looks like there will be a fair amount of pace in the race. So hopefully that will be good for us. We’ll be stalking.”
She’s a big, tall, kind of lanky filly that looks like she’ll really enjoy two turns. We’re just concentrating on the Polytrack right now. The one time I ran her on the grass probably wasn’t a true indication of her ability. But I wouldn’t hesitate to try her back on the grass at some point in time…maybe in the Wonder Where.”
So, how did Casse wind up with just this one horse for an owner he has yet to meet? “Jerry Bailey (not the jockey), who I know, is one of the largest consigners of two-year-olds in North America. He figured this filly was a Canadian-bred and she should be at Woodbine. So he recommended me to Donna and called me on her behalf and asked if I wanted to train her. And that’s how it all started.”
Owner – Classic Oaks Farm (Donna McLaughlin)
Classic Oaks Farm is located in Ocala, Florida and is owned and managed by Donna McLaughlin, a Lexington, KY native who has lived in Florida for over 30 years. She has a few broodmares but specializes in sales prepping of yearlings.
“I do a lot of business with (consigner) Jerry Bailey. I do pinhooking. I’ve been doing it for about eight years. We buy weanlings and sell them as yearlings or two-year-olds…usually about a dozen a year.”
"‘We (Classic Oaks Farm) foaled Afleet Alex (winner of the 2005 Preakness and Belmont Stakes),” McLaughlin revealed. “Maggy Hawk was a mare that we had boarding at the time.”
“We have a nice two-year-old called Highest Regards, a son of Anabaa-Regard, who we’ve just sent to Todd Pletcher at Belmont. “We’re excited about this colt. We think he’ll do well. “
“We’ve had horses before with (trainer) Bret Calhoun, like Im a Classy Cat (by Unbridled’s Song), who we’re now going to breed and others like Im Classic Quality (by Elusive Quality), who’s also a broodmare.”
McLaughlin, who has owned Classic Oaks Farm since 2000, will be attending the Oaks and visiting Woodbine for the first time on Sunday.
"Isabeau’s Elegance has always been really, really elegant (hence the name, out of the mare Isabeau). She really prepped up well as a yearling. She was just a little special. Her value (as a broodmare) we thought was a lot more than what the market was bringing at the time (when they tried to sell her as a two-year-old), so we figured we’d keep her and see what happens.”
Trainer – Mark Casse
Mark Casse is Woodbine’s most successful trainer of this decade (2000-2009) with 600 wins from 3662 starts. He enjoyed another banner season in 2009, winning his third consecutive Woodbine training title with 71 wins. It marked the ninth straight Woodbine meet that Casse has finished among the top five trainers. He also registered his third-highest purse earnings ($4.8 million) and celebrated his 100th career stakes event with Pool Play in the Grade 3 Durham Cup, one of eight added-money events he won at Woodbine.
Other season highlights included taking a thrilling renewal of the Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie with Gallant and directing Marchfield, winner of the Grade 2 Sky Classic and Grade 3 Dominion Day, to a second consecutive Sovereign Award as Canada’s top older male.
In 2008, he captured an unprecedented third consecutive Sovereign Award as Canada’s most outstanding conditioner, leading all trainers at the Woodbine meet with 75 wins and over $5.6 million in earnings. He also surpassed the 1,000-win plateau.
Over the past few years, Casse has transformed his stable from mostly juveniles to a blend of horses of various ages, due to a more diversified clientele. For many years, Casse was the private trainer of Harry Mangurian's Mockingbird operation. Casse would condition the two-year-olds and sell them before year's end. Rarely was he ever enlisted to develop their talent past age three. The end of the Mockingbird chapter provided Casse with an opportunity to reshape his stable. Major clients like Eugene Melnyk and William Farish Jr. (Woodford Racing), owners who wanted older, more accomplished horses, allowed him to make the transition.
Casse earned his first top-trainer Sovereign in 2006. He also saddled his first Kentucky Derby starter Seaside Retreat (10th). At Woodbine, Casse won 67 races and a career-high 11 stakes races, including his first Woodbine Oaks with Kimchi.
In 2007, at Woodbine, Eugene Melnyk’s Sealy Hill sailed through the Triple Tiara, becoming the first filly to sweep the Woodbine Oaks, Bison City and Wonder Where Stakes. Casse also took the Breeders' Stakes with Marchfield, winning 84 races overall to claim his second Woodbine title.
Born February 14, 1961, Casse took over his father's Kentucky operation at 18 years of age, and tallied his first winner at Keeneland. He also was the private trainer for Calumet Farms for a two year period. His first of seven trainer's titles in Kentucky came in record-setting fashion when he won the 1988 Churchill Downs Spring meet with 29 wins - a mark broken by Dale Romans in 2004. Casse was also leading trainer at Turfway Park on four occasions.
A 69-win season in 2002 earned him his first Woodbine trainer's title.
Jockey – Corey Fraser
Last year, Corey Fraser won 46 races, including the South Ocean Stakes aboard Attitude Included, and almost $1.5 million in purses to rank 11th overall at Woodbine.
Born February 18, 1977 in Toronto, Fraser grew up in Niagara Falls. In his early years, Fraser galloped horses for Hall of Fame trainer Mac Benson. On weekends, he rode horses at Ajax Downs (then Picov Downs) to learn different facets of the riding profession, while winning 26 races on the circuit.
He won his first race at Woodbine aboard Angel in Tights on November 9, 2003, at the age of 26, and finished the year with four wins (three at Woodbine) from 29 mounts.
Then, in 2004, his first full season, Fraser captured a Sovereign Award as Canada's top apprentice jockey, winning 66 races (ranking eighth at Woodbine) and over $2.3 million in purses.
Fraser’s 2005 campaign was exceptional. He ranked second to Emma-Jayne Wilson in wins (136) and was fifth in purses with over $6.3 million. He also won six stakes, including three with the Bob Tiller-trained Top Ten List.
In 2006, Fraser ranked eighth in wins with 69, tallied over $3.5 million in purses and scored seven stakes victories. In 2007, he finished 13th with 41 wins and $2.3 million in purses in a season which ended prematurely in mid-November with a broken ankle.
In 2008, he won 43 races, including the Coronation Futurity with Active Duty and a pair of stakes with the Bob Tiller trainee Dancer’s Bajan.