The fields for the 14 races that comprise the Breeders’ Cup World Championships really begin to come into focus in summer and fall and this regular feature will offer a snapshot profile of one of the previous weekend’s standout stars.

Casa Creed earned an expenses-paid berth in the FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile Presented by PDJF with a three-quarter-length victory Aug. 12 in the $500,000 Fourstardave Handicap at Saratoga Race Course. The 7-year-old by Jimmy Creed won the Fourstardave for the second straight year and this would be his fourth straight year in the Breeders’ Cup World Championships after unplaced finishes in the Mile in 2020 and 2021 and in the Turf Sprint last year at Keeneland.

It was a great story when 7-year-old Casa Creed won the Fourstardave Handicap for the second consecutive year after also finishing third in that race in 2020 and 2021. In fact, he’s now won five races at Saratoga, including stakes in 2019, 2022, and 2023, which is quite fitting for a two-time Fourstardave winner. That race, of course, is named for the “Sultan of Saratoga,” a New York-bred gelding who won at least one race at the Spa from 1987 to 1994.

“You can’t imagine that you’d run in the same Grade 1 race at Saratoga four years in a row. That’s not anything even remotely something you would ever think about, but to win it for the second year in a row made for an amazing day,” said co-owner Lee Einsidler of LRE Racing.

Casa Creed won the one-mile Kelso Stakes July 15 at Saratoga before his Fourstardave triumph, earning a 112 Equibase Speed Figure for both races. Prior to that, he came up short in his repeat bid in the Grade 1 Jaipur Stakes June 10 at Belmont Park, finishing third by a length, and in February ran second by a head in the $1.5 million 1351 Turf Sprint Presented By STC in Saudi Arabia.

Simply put, Casa Creed has been terrific as a 7-year-old.

“I’m so appreciative of what Bill Mott and his staff have done for this horse for the entirety of his career,” Einsidler said. “As a 7-year-old, there’s the argument to be made that [the 2023 Fourstardave] was the best race of his life.”

The key question as it pertains to his chances in the Breeders’ Cup is, what has changed that would help him get over the hump to earn a top-three finish at the World Championships?

The simple answer in looking at his past performances is consistency.

Earlier in Casa Creed’s career, you see plenty of unplaced finishes sprinkled throughout and not just at the Breeders’ Cup. This year, he’s brought his ‘A’ game pretty much every time.

Another possible factor is that he’s raced a little bit closer to the pace than in year’s past. There is no doubt that race setup has something to do with that – it’s far easier to track within three lengths a half-mile in :46.57 as he did last weekend than it is to carve out that trip through the half-mile in :44.25 he faced in last year’s Turf Sprint. But Casa Creed’s previous tries in the Mile in 2020 and 2021 featured pace scenarios similar to the ones he thrived behind in both the Kelso and the Fourstardave.

He earned the expenses-paid berth in the Mile via his Fourstardave win and that seems like it might be the better option than the Turf Sprint. Casa Creed might not have quite the finishing kick of the European invaders for the Breeders’ Cup Mile, but if he can track a little closer to the front and get the jump on them there is no reason he couldn’t be in the hunt in deep stretch with a great shot for a top-three placing. His off-the-pace running style fits the Mile, and Miesque’s Approval in 2006 proved a 7-year-old can win the race.

Casa Creed is a proven Grade 1 winner – sprinting and at a mile – who has held his own on the international stage twice in Saudi Arabia and appears to have found improved consistency with experience for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott.