When West Point Thoroughbreds boss Terry Finley talked with trainer Mark Casse last year at Saratoga Race Course, the CEO and president wanted to know about their promising 2-year-old colts.
But Casse wanted to talk most about an Honor A. P. juvenile filly named Counting Stars.
"I told him to bring her to Saratoga," Finley said.
"Don't worry about it. I have my plan," Casse said.
It took nearly a year, but Casse finally brought Counting Stars to the Spa June 5 and it was well worth the wait for a legion of West Point Thoroughbreds clients and their family and friends.
Tipping the balance of power in the 3-year-old filly division, Counting Stars upset undefeated Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner Always a Runner and powered to a 3 3/4-length victory over the 4-5 favorite in the $485,000 Acorn Stakes (G1) for 3-year-old fillies at the Spa.
The victory came five weeks after Counting Stars finished third, 2 1/4 lengths behind the Acorn runner-up in the Oaks.
"Mark is not one to tout his horses," Finley said, "but I felt such a great confidence from him this week. Everyone around the barn had some pep in their step. I saw her train the last few days and I've never seen her look better. She's put on muscle. I thought she'd run well today. But I didn't think she would do that."
After Counting Stars won her Sept. 25 debut in a Churchill Downs maiden race, she has now raced in stakes in her next eight starts, winning four of them, including a 5 1/2-length score in the Fantasy Stakes (G2) prior to the Oaks.
"She had one clunker (when she walked back in the Feb. 6 Martha Washington Stakes) but she got over that," Casse said. "She showed a lot of adversity today because she normally doesn't like to be inside. (Francisco Arrieta) rode her in the Oaks and he saved all the ground. But he couldn't get out, though she came running late. (Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr.) watched the race and he was determined to get out. Though in fairness, there were (13) horses in the Oaks and only five today."
The win was the fifth in nine starts for Counting Stars, a daughter of the Paynter mare Paynterbynumbers bred by HRH Prince Sultan Bin Mishal Al Saud in Kentucky. She was purchased for $150,000 by a consortium of about 18 West Point partners from the Wildheart Thoroughbreds consignment at the 2025 Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training and has now earned $1,385,606.
Casse thought Counting Stars might set the pace in the 1 1/8-mile Acorn, but that role went to Maximum Offer, who vied with Oaks runner-up Meaning, while Counting Stars was third and Always a Runner fourth after a half-mile in :47.73.
Bridlewood Farm and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' Meaning put away Maximum Offer on the final turn and led at the top of the stretch. But Counting Stars ($11.44) and Always a Runner surged past in midstretch, with the Honor A. P. filly drawing clear and crossing the wire in 1:48.85.
Always a Runner, a Gun Runner filly owned by Douglas Scharbauer and breeder Three Chimneys Farm and trained by Chad Brown, was second by 2 lengths over Meaning, a daughter of Gun Runner.
"I thought she got a really good trip," Brown said after his filly's first loss in four starts. "The winner was impressive. It looked like she went by me pretty easily and won comfortably, so it looks like we were second best."
Counting Stars is the first foal from her dam, who also has an Epicenter yearling filly. She is also the first grade 1 winner for sire Honor A. P., who stands the 2026 season for $7,500 at Lane's End near Versailles, Ky.
