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Fifty Months And Twenty Races Later, Storm The Court Looking To Get Back To Winner’s Circle

Even though he won the 2019 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, no one was ready to declare that Storm the Court (Court Vision) was a star in the making. After all, he was 45-1 that day at Santa Anita and the field for that year's Juvenile was one of the weakest in the history of the race. But nobody could have predicted what was to become for that year's 2-year-old male champion, an epic losing streak that has lasted now for more than four years and 20 races.

Storm the Court will be out to put an end to the futility Saturday at Gulfstream Park in the Silks Run S., but he is 20-1 in the morning line for a race that brought together a surprisingly deep field. Expectations are that the Silks Run will be the 21st straight loss for the now 7-year-old horse.

“The race came up super tough,” said his trainer Bill Morey.

Storm the Court won his debut on Aug. 10, 2019, for trainer Peter Eurton. He lost his rider in his next start, the GI Del Mar Futurity, and then was third in the GI American Pharoah S. Ridden by Flavien Prat, he won the Juvenile in a game effort in which he outfought Anneau d'Or (Medaglia d'Oro). Since then absolutely nothing has gone right.

“A lot of it has to do with fact he matured a lot earlier than most horses do,” Eurton said. “In the Breeders' Cup he was in the right place at the right time. The rest of the horses caught up to him.”

Storm the Court's 3-year-old campaign coincided with the pandemic, which pushed the GI Kentucky Derby back to Sept. 5. He lost all five of his starts leading up to the Derby, but ran creditably when third in the GIII Ohio Derby and second in the GIII La Jolla H. In the Derby, he finished sixth, beaten nine lengths. That was sixth straight loss, and it would only get worse.

Being that the horse was an Eclipse Award champion and a Grade I winner, the owners looked into turning him into a stallion, but the response from the breeding farms was lukewarm at best.

“There was some talk about turning him into a stallion back when he was four,” Eurton said. “But it didn't happen. His pedigree, it's just not there.”

His five-year-old season ended with a 12 3/4-length drubbing in the GIII Tokyo City S. That would be his last start for Eurton.

“The owners thought the horse would be better off back East and would have more opportunities there,” Eurton said.

He was sent to Tom Amoss and made two starts for him, the last of which resulted in a 23-length loss in an allowance race at Churchill in September.

The ownership group then decided to make another change and sent the horse to Morey. The new trainer hasn't gotten him to the winner's circle in three tries, but at least Storm the Court has been competitive. He's had three starts for the new outfit, all of them in allowance sprints on the grass. He finished third at Horseshoe Indianapolis and then second in consecutive races at Tampa Bay Downs.

“I had some other horses for the ownership group and they called me and asked what I doing for the winter,” Morey said. “When I told them I'd be racing at Turfway and Tampa, they thought Tampa might be a good place to get him reinvigorated and back on his game. That was the idea. It just seemed like the horse was obviously stale with what he was doing so we decided to try something drastically different. So far, it has worked to some extent. We haven't gotten to the winner's circle yet, but we seem to have him going pretty good. We're training him to be a sprinter rather than continuing to train him to be a router. I have trained him to sprint. I am assuming that the trainers who had him before me were all training him for routes.”

Morey is optimistic he can break the losing streak, but understands that it probably won't happen Saturday. Storm the Court is running against horses who are considerably faster than him on the Beyer scale, including Big Invasion (Declaration of War), who was second in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint.

“In this game you take chances,” Morey said. “There wasn't an allowance at five furlongs on the grass at Tampa for the foreseeable future. An on-the board-performance in a race as tough as this would almost feel like we had broken the losing streak. This looks like a tough spot. Maybe we'll get lucky and hit the board or maybe win. If not, hopefully we'll get him into the winner's circle the next time.”

At Santa Anita, Eurton will be watching. He hasn't had the horse for a year and a half, but will always have the memories of his win in the Breeders' Cup.

“I would love to see him win a race. One hundred percent,” he said. “There will always be a soft spot in my heart for this horse.”

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Joe Bianca to West Point

Former TDN Associate Editor Joe Bianca has joined West Point Thoroughbreds as a partner account representative.

Bianca comes to the partnership company after nearly seven years as an associate editor at Thoroughbred Daily News, where he received a Media Eclipse Award for his 2020 piece on New York City, Belmont Park and the COVID-19 pandemic, “To Hell and Back: Belmont Marks a Deserved Triumph for New York City.” Bianca also hosted the industry-leading “TDN Writers' Room” podcast as well as the handicapping-focused conversation show “Bettor Things with Joe Bianca.”

An avid handicapper and racetracker since his teenage years, Bianca previously worked in sports journalism and television production. His decades-long love for horse racing has been a constant, turning him into a regular on the aprons and in the paddocks of Belmont, Aqueduct, and Saratoga.

“I'm very excited and honored to be joining West Point Thoroughbreds, as respected a brand in horse racing as there is,” Bianca said. “In my work in print and on air, I've tried to be a passionate but honest advocate for the game. I'm looking forward to using that passion to bring new people into the sport and ensure existing partners have a great experience with it for a company that's done things the right way for over 30 years.”

“Joe will no doubt help us improve the West Point Partner experience,” said West Point CEO Terry Finley. “He's knowledgeable and creative and enjoys talking horses as much as anybody I know. He'll be on-site at New York tracks, and I expect him to connect with many West Point partners over his love of handicapping, sports, and racing content.”

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Ready For Kickoff: Beholder’s First Foal To Debut Sunday At Santa Anita

The great Beholder, who won Eclipse Awards at ages two, three, five, and six and retired with career earnings of $6.1 million, will be represented on Opening Day by her first foal to race—Q B One, a 3-year-old old colt by Uncle Mo. Like his dam, Q B One is conditioned by Richard Mandella, and he's owned by his breeder, Spendthrift Farm.

Foaled in Kentucky on Jan. 30, 2018, the dark bay or brown colt drew post position four in a field of six going 6 ½ furlongs in Sunday's fourth race.

“I've had him for a bit and he's had some minor problems,” Mandella said, “so he was sent out and came back, but he's doing well now.

“He trains good and I think racing will make him better but I don't know that his mind is really on it yet. We'll get a race into him and I'd expect going short he'll probably settle back and finish well, getting him started for better things down the road.”

Beholder, it's worth noting, ran fourth in her debut race before becoming the first horse since 1976 to win a Grade I race at age two, three, four, and five, and being one of only two horses to ever win three Breeders' Cup races.

Asked if Q B One has shown any qualities that his brilliant mother displayed, without giving away any trade secrets, Mandella responded with a typical quip.

“He has a good appetite,” he said.

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‘Special Filly’ Swiss Skydiver Will Be Missed at McPeek Barn

In just a few weeks, champion Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil – Expo Gold, by Johannesburg) will sell at the Fasig-Tipton 'Night of the Stars' Sale. On an evening heralded for its abundant opportunity, her trip through the ring will be marked with anticipation for what is to come as she begins her broodmare career. But until then, there's just a bit of melancholy for her fans in looking back on her remarkable racing career.

What was it, exactly, that made Swiss Skydiver so unforgettable?

It could have been her extraordinary toughness and durability. The filly's Eclipse-earning sophomore season was unlike any other as she competed in 10 stakes races at nine different racetracks, crossing the wire first in half those starts. During a year of the unprecedented in 2020, it became altogether familiar to find Swiss Skydiver in the entries nearly every month.

Or maybe it was the grit and bravery she displayed so magnificently in her historic GI Preakness. S., refusing to let Authentic inch past her white shadow roll. Every racing fan remembers exactly where they were watching as she battled to become the sixth filly in history to win the Preakness S.

Even still, it could have been her intelligent personality, which Kenny McPeek shared with her many admirers through social media as they journeyed to racetracks across the county.

Perhaps the fierce chestnut's uniqueness shines through in all of those elements, each one an important element in the story of Swiss Skydiver.

A member of the first crop of Daredevil, Hip 2997 was a half-sister to two winners and the granddaughter of GSP Clouds of Gold (Strike the Gold), but it wasn't her pedigree that caught the eye of Kenny McPeek.

“She was a big, beautiful filly with a great walk to her and a great energy,” the agent said, recalling even the barn at which he first laid eyes on her.

Swiss Skydiver becomes one for the record books in the 2020 GI Preakness S. | Horsephotos

McPeek purchased the Select Sales-consigned yearling for $35,000 for longtime client Peter Callahan. Swiss Skydiver made her debut the following November at Churchill Downs, breaking her maiden there by five and a half lengths.

There was much more to come as the calendar turned to 2020.

“Her three-year-old season was magical,” McPeek said. “For everybody who was dealing with the pandemic, we knew that there were a lot of people that couldn't go to the races and we were traveling with Swiss Skydiver. We went from state to state and it seemed like everywhere we went was a new adventure.”

Swiss Skydiver collected three consecutive graded stakes victories before making her first start against the boys in the GII Blue Grass S., running a more-than-acceptable second to Art Collector (Bernardini). After earning her first Grade I in the Alabama S. and then taking second in the GI Kentucky Oaks, Kenny McPeek had skeptics reeling when she was entered in yet another contest, this one against her toughest competition still, in the GI Preakness. S.

“I never second-guessed running her against the boys at all,” McPeek said when asked of his decision to enter the filly in her ninth start of the year. “Her speed figures looked like she fit against just about anybody.”

Off at 11-1, Swiss Skydiver refused to yield against eventual Horse of the Year Authentic and crossed the wire in front by a neck to win the second-fastest Preakness S. in history and give her trainer his first Preakness victory.

“I think I had maybe 700 text messages on my phone,” McPeek said with a laugh. “Look, when you win everybody texts you and when you lose, nobody does. But you know, she made it all happen. Without her, none of it happens.”

McPeek added that he was thrilled to share the experience with longtime client Peter Callahan.

“Peter is one of the most special people I've ever worked for,” he said. “He really understands the game. His persistence with me is really the reason why we're here. He has let me buy some slow horses too and I couldn't be happier for a guy like him to have her.”

While the stars all aligned for Swiss Skydiver during her Eclipse Award-winning 3-year-old campaign, she came back at four to win the GI Beholder Mile S. in March but then several unfortunate circumstances got in the way of the original plan for her 2021 campaign. However McPeek said he will not let those disruptions get in the way of him celebrating the champion's many accomplishments.

“We would have liked to have had a better 4-year-old year, but you couldn't have had a better 3-year-old year, maybe in the history of 3-year-old fillies,” he said. “She's just a tough filly. She loves her food and you don't get many like that. With colts maybe you do; fillies are a little more sensitive, but she is as sturdy as I've ever seen and may ever will see.”

Swiss Skydiver will enter the ring at Fasig-Tipton as a six-time grade stakes-winning champion with earnings of over $2.2 million.

Swiss Skydiver sells as Hip 246 at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale | Sarah Andrew

“We're thrilled to have a filly of the quality of Swiss Skydiver entered in the sale,” Fasig-Tipton's Boyd Browning said. “She truly is the complete package-unbelievable race record, demonstrated brilliance on a number of occasions, but also demonstrated the durability and consistency that truly defines a great filly.”

Browning added that he believes Swiss Skydiver offers all the qualities the buyers as Fasig-Tipton will be seeking.

“Breeders today are desiring durability, consistency and toughness,” he said. “She's a throwback. She trained hard, she ran hard, she answered every bell. She was an exceptional racehorse and had that grit and determination that I think she is likely to pass on to her offspring as well.”

For McPeek, watching Swiss Skydiver as she embarks on her broodmare career reminds him of another one of his talented trainees from years ago.

“Take Charge Lady (Dehere) had that kind of talent and ended up being Broodmare of the Year,” he said. “I would wager that Swiss Skydiver will be every bit as good of a broodmare as she was a racehorse because she's extremely intelligent and she's just a kind soul to be around. On the physical [aspect], she's just so big and strong. She's a filly that would be ideal in that you could breed her to a list of stallions.”

For Browning, much of Swiss Skydiver's potential for success as a broodmare is found by looking back on the accomplishments of the only other two Preakness-winning fillies from the last 100 years.

“We all remember Rachel Alexandra-one of the all-time greats of our industry,” he said. “She produced a Grade I winner in a very limited number of foals and also produced a stallion who is having success at the racetrack right now too. The other filly to win the Preakness in the last 100 years is Nellie Morse and she produced a champion in her own right and has become a very influential broodmare.”

Swiss Skydiver will sell as Hip 246 with the Runnymede Farm consignment on Nov. 9 at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale, but for now McPeek is enjoying his final days with his history-making filly as she begins the transition period at Magdelena Farm–the location where she was once saddled for the very first time.

“We've really been blessed to be around a horse like her,” he said. “They're few and far between and you really have to appreciate them when they come into your life. I think we did take advantage of all that and spent time with her. I got a chance to bond with her really well. It's going to be tough, because we love being around her. She's a really special filly.”

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