TDN Weekend December 2016 Issue 9
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/920057
estly thinks. We're in a different time, now, and Mark is very '2017' and he makes it a lot of fun for me." World Approval brought the world to its feet on Nov. 4, giving Casse and Weber their biggest win together. Said outstand- ing effort stamped the nearly white gelding as one of the top turf milers in the world, arguably the best American turf horse in training and followed one-sided victories in two other GI events — the Woodbine Mile and Saratoga's Fourstardave. The flashy and fierce charge, whose triumph meant more to his connections than meets the eye, now points to the $6-million GI Dubai Turf at Meydan. "Winning is always special and so is the Breeders' Cup, but this was a little more special," Casse said. "My dad was very close with Mrs. Weber and I'm an Ocala boy through and through. Live Oak has been part of Ocala since I can remember and my dad was always hoping to have me train for her one day. For whatever reason it didn't happen for a while, but it finally did. Unfor- tunately, it was the latter part of my dad's life and he passed away a couple years ago and didn't get to see this win. I wish he could have been there. If you told me when we started that we would win a Breeders' Cup race together, I would not have be- lieved you, and to do it with a horse like World Approval, whose dam is all Live Oak and may be the best broodmare I've ever seen, makes it even more amazing. "We're into strategizing and trying to de- velop horses and so is Mrs. Weber," Casse continued. "Training horses is like putting