Ice Chocolat determined victory in Saturday’s Grade 3, $350,000 Poker. (Janet Napolitano)
Belmont Stakes Racing Festival Notes
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A return trip to Saratoga for one of Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse’s favorite races is on the horizon for Wachtel Stable, Gary Barber and Peter Deutsch’s Ice Chocolat following the 6-year-old gelding’s determined victory in Saturday’s Grade 3, $350,000 Poker at Saratoga Race Course.
“He’s doing great,” Casse said Sunday. “He ran very well, and he looks great this morning.”
Ice Chocolat was sharp away from the gate under jockey Jose Ortiz and established the early lead in the one-mile inner turf test for older horses, dueled with Talk of the Nation into deep stretch and stubbornly held sway against both that rival and Mysterious Night to win by one length in 1:33.97.
“Kudos to Jose. I don’t give instructions when riders ride my horses. I just said, ‘Good luck, be safe and play it how it goes,’” Casse said. “He said he broke running so he went with it, and that was the difference. I knew after a half in 48 [seconds] they were going to have a tough time beating him.”
It marked a change in tactics for Ice Chocolat, who had raced off the pace previously and was coming off a disappointing eighth-place finish in the one-mile Opening Verse on May 2 at Churchill Downs. A Group 3 winner in his native Brazil, Ice Chocolat earned his first graded success in the U.S. after placing six times previously. Sent off at odds of 24-1, he registered the biggest upset on Day Three of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival.
“I was very puzzled by his performance last time, so we just kind of threw it out,” Casse said. “It was great, because he’s been extremely unlucky in a couple spots. That’s the one good thing when you’re on the lead, you don’t have to worry about getting in trouble. That was a new weapon in his arsenal.”
Casse said Ice Chocolat will be pointed to the Grade 1, $500,000 Fourstardave Handicap for 3-year-olds and up going one mile on the Saratoga turf August 10. Casse won the race for the first time in 2017 with World Approval, who would go on to be named Champion Turf Male, as well as standout mare and fellow multi-millionaire Got Stormy in 2019 and 2021. Her time of 1:32 in 2019 remains the one-mile inner turf course record.
“The Fourstardave is something that has been extremely dear to us,” Casse said. “So, that’ll be our goal with him.”
