Casse makes the most of Del Mar stay

There were a lot of positives for trainer Mark Casse about

Saturday.

Ol' Fashion Gal won the Grade 3 Jimmy Durante

Stakes which, paired with Friday's score by Kaigun in the Grade 2 Seabiscuit Handicap,

gave Casse back-to-back wins from stakes starters for his stable.

Then Lexie Lou ran a creditable second to California Chrome

in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby, enhancing the three-year-old filly's chances of being voted

Horse of the Year in Canada.

"I was very proud of the way Lexie Lou ran," Casse said

Sunday morning. "I just wanted her to show that she belonged with horses of that

caliber and she did that."

Through Saturday, Casse has four wins and four seconds from 17 starters

during the Bing Crosby season. He is a six-time Sovereign Award winner as Canada's top

trainer.

"I hear, or at least I used to hear all the time, 'He only wins in Canada.'

One of the purposes in coming out here was to show we could compete," the

horseman said after the Seabiscuit.

Casse, who has strings in several places east of the

Mississippi, brought his family and 40 horses to stay for the Del Mar

summer meeting. He continued his West Coast presence at Santa Anita through the

Breeders' Cup, then came back down for the Bing Crosby Season.

"It's been a wonderful experience for us," Casse said. "As long as my owners

let me, I think there's a high percentage chance we'll be back next year. Just

looking at my horses today, there's nowhere else in North America, with the

weather and everything, that your horses look as good as they do here."

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