There she was in rivalry for victory, main the best way within the ultimate furlong of the historic Queen Anne’s Stakes at Royal Ascot in England. As Tepin bravely crossed the end line in entrance, the filly made historical past as the primary American-trained racehorse to win Royal Ascot’s signature opening spherical. Sharing the glory is the coach who made all of it potential, the one who by no means put a mistaken foot on a gifted however slow-growing racehorse till he was able to make historical past on the world stage.
The coach is Mark E. Cass, born in 1961 in Indianapolis. From an early age, it appeared like his future was destined for the game of horse racing. His father, Norman Casse, was concerned in all facets of the game as a coach, breeder, farm supervisor, and co-founder of Ocala Breeders Gross sales Firm.
Years later, when Mark Kass is inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Corridor of Fame, he’ll rely attending the 1973 Kentucky Derby together with his father and watching the legendary Secretariat dominate as a fond childhood reminiscence and a pivotal second.
Following in his father’s footsteps, Kass set his sights on a future within the horse racing business, and was simply 18 years outdated when he rode his first horse as a coach at Florida Downs on March 1, 1979. Simply over six weeks later, Kass gained at historic Keeneland, successful the season opener on April 14 towards veteran heavyweight racer Joes Cumming. By the top of the yr, Cass was competing in stakes races with the mare Amalie. Amalie was a former claimer who Casse reworked right into a winner of the Indian Maid Handicap at Sportsman’s Park.
Nonetheless, the primary twenty years of Kass’ coaching profession have been comparatively uneventful by his future requirements. From 1979 to 1990, he averaged 31 wins a yr and gained a number of convention titles at Turfway Park and Churchill Downs within the late Nineteen Eighties. His greatest win got here in 1984 with the gifted 3-year-old horse Raja’s Shark, which gained the Grade 3 Jamaica Handicap at Belmont Park, and Kass additionally briefly labored as a personal coach on the historic Calumet Farm.
Kass’s numbers declined considerably all through the Nineties, however solely as a result of he moved to work primarily as supervisor of Harry T. Mangurian Jr.’s Mockingbird Farm in Florida.
When Casse resumed his function as a full-fledged coach in 1998, it did not take lengthy for him to excel on the highest stage of the game.
Certainly one of Casse’s early stars was Thrilling Tales, which was produced and owned by Mangurian. The thrilling story of successful the Grade 3 Sinford Stakes at Woodbine as a 2-year-old in 1999 was patiently dealt with by Cass, and after a largely unsuccessful 3-year-old season, he blossomed as a 4-year-old and gained back-to-back Grade 3 Vigil Handicap and Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap.
By making Woodbine, Canada his residence, Cass successfully turned Canadian himself within the eyes of race followers. That is definitely comprehensible. He turned Woodbine’s chief coach in 2002 and gained 10 extra titles from 2007 to 2016. The most important stakes wins started to come back, successful his first Canadian Triple Crown race in 2007 and including eight extra wins since then. From 2006 to 2008, he gained the Sovereign Award for Canada’s Excellent Coach three years in a row.
Within the late 2000s, Kass solid a brand new partnership with John Oxley, a widely known polo participant who had already discovered success in horse racing because the proprietor of 2001 Kentucky Derby winner Monarcos. With Oxley as a distinguished consumer, Mr. Cass started bettering the standard of his inventory, and the outcomes have been spectacular.
“I have been doing this job for 35 years, and I’ve by no means owned a pocket book,” Casse advised author Deirdre B. Biles in an article for Bloodhorse.com. “Earlier than, I at all times purchased low-cost horses and hoped for the very best. Now, if I see a horse I like at a sale, I’ve the possibility to purchase it, and the horses I purchase run effectively. The objective is to have a extremely good racing steady and compete in the very best races.”
Effectively, these targets have been shortly achieved. Main prize winners comparable to Prospect, Northern Ardour, Metal Case, Uncaptured, Spring within the Air and Dixie Strike (all owned by Oxley) helped propel Cass to the very best years of his profession in 2011 and 2012. A brand new partnership with movie producer Gary Barber noticed Lexi Lou win the 2014 Queen’s Plate Stakes and be named Canada’s Horse of the 12 months on the Sovereign Awards.
These gifted horses and others took Cass throughout North America competing within the Kentucky Derby, Breeders’ Cup, and different prestigious occasions. But it surely was Tepin who put the Cass steady on the trail to worldwide acclaim, albeit in a roundabout manner.
The Bernstein daughter initially confirmed expertise on grime, successful the Grade 3 Delta Downs Princess Stakes in 2013.
However quickly Kass appropriately concluded that Tepin’s future lay on turf, and after an abbreviated (and winless) 2014 marketing campaign, Kass’ endurance and foresight paid off as Tepin gained 5 of seven begins on turf in 2015, culminating with a commanding victory over males within the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Mile.
Kass gained the Breeders’ Cup double in 2015 and gained the Grade 1 Juvenile Fillies Turf with Canada’s 2015 Horse of the 12 months Catch a Glimp. These have been the highlights of Kass’ finest season to this point, however the subsequent two years have been even higher. Tepin made historical past at Royal Ascot, Catch-A-Glimps continued his successful methods, and rising stars comparable to Basic Empire and World Approval emerged as champions with career-defining wins within the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and 2017 Breeders’ Cup Mile, respectively.
Casse’s work with Basic Empire epitomizes his potential to coach difficult horses. As a two-year-old, the Oxley-owned colt struggled to interrupt out of the beginning gate and even misplaced his rider when working within the G1 Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga. Nevertheless, after Casse outfitted the stallion with blinkers and spent quite a lot of time in education periods, Basic Empire overcame the difficulties and gained three Group 1 races throughout his illustrious life.
Greater than 45 years after his first beginning pitching project, it is secure to say that Kass is reaping the rewards of his efforts. He ranked among the many prime seven trainers in North America in prize cash yearly from 2011 to 2025, gained greater than a dozen graded stakes races for brand spanking new and outdated shoppers alike, and conditioned a minimum of one winner in every Breeders’ Cup from 2015 to 2018.
That Breeders’ Cup efficiency got here to an finish in 2019…however was offset by Cass’ success on the best way to the Triple Crown. He scored his first two wins in North American horse racing’s most storied sequence at Warfare of Will within the Preakness Stakes and Sir Winston within the Belmont Stakes. Cass’s coaching work at Warfare of Will displays his talent in figuring out expertise in horses. The colt began his profession with some success on turf, however blossomed after shifting to grime in early 2019 in preparation for the Kentucky Derby. Kass then moved his Basic winners again to grass, and in 2020 Warfare of Will established himself as a prime runner on grass as a four-year-old, successful the G1 Maker’s Mark Mile.
These accomplishments additional enhanced Cass’ already established standing as top-of-the-line trainers within the sport, and in 2020 he was inducted into the Nationwide Horse Racing Corridor of Fame and Museum in Saratoga Springs, New York.
John Oxley is one such instance, believing Cass is a serious cause for his steady’s resurgent success over the previous decade.
“There are such a lot of elements (right into a steady’s success),” Oxley defined within the November 12, 2016 concern. blood horse“However most necessary is Mark Casse and his wonderful crew. He places collectively a top-notch operation with prime assistants and employees at each stage. He is the brains behind all the things. And he is superb at selecting which yearlings and two-year-olds to purchase.”
Truthfully, you might exchange “superb” with “glorious” and nobody would argue. Kass gained the Sovereign Award as Canada’s Excellent Coach yearly from 2011 to 2023, however was overtaken by Kevin Attard in 2024, halting his unimaginable run of dominance. Kass added one other Breeders’ Cup win in 2022 when Marvel Wheel gained the NetJets Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.
Horse racing is a sport of uncertainty, but when there’s one factor you may belief, it is that Mark Kass will proceed to provide winner after winner for the foreseeable future.
Notice: This story was initially printed in 2019 and has been up to date.
fascinating details
- Kasse’s son, Noam Kasse, labored as his father’s assistant earlier than placing out on his personal in 2018.
- Cass’s youthful brother, Justin Cass, can be concerned within the racing business as a distinguished phlebotomist.
- Via January 18, 2026, jockey Mark Kass has gained 4,131 races in North America from 25,212 horses, together with 268 graded stakes races. His horses have gained a complete of $272.8 million, the seventh-highest whole in North American horse racing historical past.
- Mr. Casse has educated 5 Eclipse Award successful horses: Tepin, Basic Empire, World Approval, Shamrock Rose and Marvel Wheel. Additionally they characterize 5 of his six Breeders’ Cup winners, with Catch a Glimps being the fifth. Nitrogen is a finalist for the 2025 Eclipse Award for Champion 3-12 months-Previous Filly.
- Coach Kass has educated six Canadian Horses of the 12 months and has gained 16 Sovereign Awards for Canada’s Excellent Coach, so it is no shock that he was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Corridor of Fame in 2016.
