Training hours are coming to an end on a March morning at Palm Meadows in Boynton Beach, Florida. A lot of outfits have already shipped at least some of their horses north, to New York or Kentucky or Toronto, and quiet sinks over much of the training center.

Not so much at Barn 11, one of two barns at which the southern operation of Casse Racing is based; stalls are still full, and horses are still going out, and Norman Casse, the son and assistant of trainer Mark Casse, is in charge.

But there’s a watchful eye nearby, with champion Tepin, ever observant, ensconced in stall #1.

“It’s so fun watching her,” Norman Casse said. “Stall 1 is where all the action is: where the riders get legged up, where the horses come around. She sticks her head out and just loves being part of the team and part of the morning.”

Not every horse, he acknowledges, could handle the hubbub of that spot. But Tepin is not, to put it mildly, like every other horse.

Tepin and Julien Leparoux. © Breeders’ Cup/Margaret Dry 2015

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