Got Stormy used a strong effort in last year's Grade 1, $500,000 Fourstardave to facilitate a successful initiative that led to a pair of graded stakes wins. Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse said he's hoping for a similar trajectory this year, as the 6-year-old will compete in Saturday's 37th running of the Fourstardave going one mile on the inner turf course in Race 10.
Got Stormy, owned by MyRacehorse Stable and Spendthrift Farm, has a strong connection to this prestigious turf tilt for 3-year-olds and up. Her sire, Get Stormy, won the race in 2010 and finished third in 2012. In 2019, Got Stormy bested males to win the Fourstardave by 2 1/2 lengths in a course record 1:32 flat, earning a 109 Beyer Speed Figure that is still a personal best in a 29-race career.
Last year, Got Stormy ran second, 1 1/4-lengths back to Halladay, in the race and subsequently won the Grade 3 Kentucky Downs Lady Spirit and the Grade 3 Buffalo Trace Franklin County before capping her campaign with a fifth-place effort in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint in November at Keeneland.
On Saturday, Got Stormy will look to become the first dual Fourstardave winner since two-time Horse of the Year and recent Hall of Fame inductee Wise Dan [2012-13]. She drew post 6 in the eight-horse field.
“I think she's training well and similar to when she ran a big race last year,” said Casse, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame across Union Avenue from the Spa last week. “I was just going over the similarities from one year to the other. She kind of struggled early on and then came here and ran a big race in the Fourstardave. She's happy and she's ready. We just have the same concern we always do about the weather.”
Got Stormy will stretch back out to one mile after running fifth in the six-furlong Grade 1 Jackpocket Jaipur on Belmont Stakes Day June 5 on a course rated good. Casse said Got Stormy's preferred track is a firm surface but he added the eight furlongs also should play to her strengths.
“She loves the mile on the inner turf, it's her best [distance] and she likes the sharp turns,” Casse said.
Jockey Tyler Gaffalione, aboard for her last seven starts, will have the return call. Got Stormy is 10-1 on the morning line, with 9-5 favorite Raging Bull drawing the inside post and 5-2 Set Piece breaking from post 5.
Casse said both of his runners in last Saturday's Grade 1, $500,000 Longines Test – runner-up Souper Sensational and eighth-place finisher Make Mischief – exited the seven-furlong sprint for sophomores in good order.
Live Oak Plantation's Souper Sensational ran second, 4 1/4-lengths back to much-the-best winner Bella Sofia, to earn a 93 Beyer one race after posting a personal-best 95 number for her 3 1/4-length victory in the Grade 3 Victory Ride on July 10 at Belmont. In eight career starts, the Curlin filly has already earned stakes black type at four different tracks [Woodbine, Fair Grounds, Belmont and Saratoga].
“She's doing well. I haven't really decided what I'm going to do with her next,” Casse said.
Gary Barber's Make Mischief has already made eight starts in her 3-year-old campaign and has spent the spring and summer facing top-flight competition, starting with a third-place finish in the Grade 2 Eight Belles in April at Churchill before running third in the Grade 1 Acorn going a one-turn mile on Belmont Stakes Day. Returning to Big Sandy for the 1 1/16-mile Grade 2 Mother Goose three weeks later, Make Mischief ran fourth before finishing last-of-eight in the Test.
Casse said the daughter of Into Mischief, bred in the Empire State by Avanti Stable, could be targeting the $200,000 Fleet Indian for state-bred 3-year-old fillies going 1 1/8 miles on August 27 at Saratoga.
“Make Mischief will probably go back against New York-breds,” Casse said. “I want to just see how hot it is and how they respond to the heat. But she has quite a resume, so we're very proud of her.”
Casse said John Oxley's Palazzi, who ran seventh in the Grade 1 Saratoga Derby Invitational in the second leg of NYRA's Turf Triple series on August 7, will now likely run in a stakes at Kentucky Downs next out.
The post Got Stormy Again Faces Males In Fourstardave; Casse’s Only Concern Is ‘Weather’ appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
