CASSE SENDS GRADED STAKES WINNERS EWING, FINAL ACCORD TO COLONIAL TURF STAKES
Posted on August 6th, 2026
Hark Theangerlsing, a winner at Colonial Downs in 2025, returns the New Kent, Va., racetrack for the Aug. 8 running of the $100,000 Shenandoah Stakes. (Credit: Colonial Downs)
Doubting Thomas, the 2025 Jamestown winner, is the 2-1 morning line favorite in the Aug. 8 running of the $100,000 Colonial Turf Dash at the New Kent, Virginia track. (Credit: Coady Media)
NEW KENT, Va. (Aug 6, 2026) —Trainer Mark Casse will look to rekindle the early promise of a pair of accomplished juveniles Saturday, sending graded stakes winners Ewing and Final Accord to the $100,000 Colonial Turf Dash and the $100,000 Shenandoah Stakes, respectively. Both won on debut before adding graded stakes victories at age 2, but each will be seeking his or her first victory this season in the sibling six-furlong turf sprint features at Colonial Downs.
Making his fifth career start, Ewing returns to turf for just the second time. Campaigned by D.J. Stable, West Point Thoroughbreds and Kenneth Freirich, the colt followed a 12-length debut victory with a score in the Grade 2 Saratoga Special, prompting high aspirations for the son of Knicks Go.
After a series of setbacks, Ewing returned in February with a sixth-place finish in the Ozark Stakes at Oaklawn Park before finishing off the board in the Grade 3 Quick Call at Saratoga in July.
The Colonial Turf Dash drew a competitive field of 10, led by the Estate of R. Larry Johnson’s Doubting Thomas, the 2-1 morning-line favorite for trainer Mike Trombetta. Like Ewing, Doubting Thomas won his debut before capturing the Jamestown Stakes last year. He enters off a runner-up finish to Spidey Man, who has won four of five career starts for trainer Jamie Ness.
Owned by Gary Barber and Peter Deutsch, Final Accord also seeks her first victory as a 3-year-old. The filly competed in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf after winning a graded stakes at age 2 and has remained competitive in graded company this season. She opened her campaign with a fourth-place finish in the Grade 3 Mamzelle, finished second in the Penn Oaks and most recently was sixth in the Tepin Stakes at Churchill Downs.
Her chief rival in the Shenandoah appears to be Johnson homebred Hark Theangelssing, who opened her sophomore season by winning the Stormy Blues Stakes at Laurel Park before finishing fourth in the Grade 3 Coronation Cup at Saratoga.
Sonny Leon has the mount aboard both Casse runners.
On Saturday’s 10-race card, the Shenandoah Stakes is Race 8, followed by the Colonial Turf Dash. Full fields for both stakes are available on Equibase: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/RaceCardIndexCNL080826USA-EQB.html. First post is 12:30 p.m. ET
