This Side Up: A Model Flagship For Stormy Seas

There is always something especially shocking about the death of a stallion in his prime. Nature contains no more vivid an incarnation of vitality than this most literal of life forces, daily renewing the gift of existence. For a candle as bright as Get Stormy to be extinguished so abruptly, then, will leave a grievous void at Crestwood Farm.

Having spent five years in training, even at 16, Get Stormy's second career was only just entering its key phase. For not until the next year or two will his best stock start reaching the track, his books having soared in both quality and quantity after an early stakes barrage led, from his second crop, by triple Grade I winner Got Stormy. No less than her name implies, she was inlaid with the watertight genetic teak of her sire, matching his own record of graded stakes success through four consecutive campaigns.

It's all there in the McLean family slogan, “We raise runners.” In a business where so many horses are raised to do no more than stand and stroll, with breeders heading for the hills the moment the gavel comes down, that fairly rudimentary aspiration has an almost quixotic quality. But a trademark combination of blood and guts governs nearly the whole Crestwood roster: Jack Milton (War Front), for instance, won a Grade I at five and, much like Get Stormy himself with Moccasin (Nantallah), brings into play a Claiborne matriarch in Bourtai (Stimulus); while Heart To Heart (English Channel) won graded stakes annually from three to seven.

Get Stormy's nickname on the farm was Clyde, because he had so much brawn and timber that he evoked a Clydesdale. I've always had a mad theory (actually supported by the stats) that his reputation as a turf sire is self-fulfilling, and that his physical stamp, toughness, and speed-carrying style were ideally tailored for dirt. Be that as it may, despite nudging an initial fee of $5,000 no farther than $7,500, Get Stormy already leaves us half a dozen graded stakes winners. (That's as many as Maclean's Music, for instance, from the same intake.) And his two millionaires to date were respectively out of a $4,500 Malabar Gold mare, and a daughter of Brahms unsold at $18,000 on her only visit to the ring.

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Two days after Get Stormy's loss, on just the other side of Georgetown Road, the venerable heart of Go For Gin also gave out at the Kentucky Horse Park, his home since retiring from stud in 2011. At 31, he had been the oldest surviving Derby winner—and long enjoyed precisely the kind of dignified, pampered retirement everyone was someday anticipating, a few years down the line, for Get Stormy.

But while life's disasters seldom arrive with any rhyme or reason, perhaps we can glimpse some timely succor for Crestwood. Because any clients with mares booked to Get Stormy should certainly consider another stallion on the roster, also from the Storm Cat line, who only last weekend reiterated the striking promise he has shown from minimal opportunity to date.

Firing Line has mustered no more than 39 starters from his first couple of crops but 24 of them have already won and, having burdened him this winter with a place on a TDN “Value Podium”, I was delighted to see Venti Valentine confirm her candidature for the GI Kentucky Oaks with a seven-length romp in the Busher S. last Saturday. Other credits to Firing Line include Nakatomi's success in the Bowman's Mill S. at Keeneland last fall, after placing in the GII Saratoga Special S.; plus the recent Fair Grounds romp of his $210,000 2-year-old Oscarette.

Besides beating all bar a Triple Crown winner in the Derby, don't forget that Firing Line was only denied a juvenile Grade I by a head and broke the track record in winning the GIII Sunland Park Derby by 14 lengths. True to Crestwood principles, moreover, his talent was rooted in a mile-deep pedigree: his dam is a Grade I-placed sibling to the mothers of two Grade I-winning milers, their line extending to matriarchs Kamar (Key to the Mint) and Square Angel (Quadrangle).

Whether or not Firing Line can fill the breach, Get Stormy will undoubtedly be making posthumous additions to his legacy. After all, Giant's Causeway himself—perhaps the greatest conduit of all, for this sire-line—is not quite done yet, even though he bequeathed just three foals from a handful of final coverings before his death in the spring of 2018. Incredibly, two of them now line up together for the GII Langholm South Tampa Bay Derby with a total of 85 gate points on the line for the first Saturday in May.

Curiously, both were born on 22 February 2019. Classic Causeway is being brought along beautifully at Palm Meadows by Brian Lynch, with a foundation of longer breezes for his comeback before dialing up the speed since; while Giant Game has himself been working the house down after some running repairs on a displaced palate.

Still more remarkably, it was only last week that the final Giant's Causeway of all—born eight days after the other pair—made a winning debut for Shadwell in Dubai, charging clear by four and a half lengths. So the hope that the Iron Horse might “rust in peace”, which may sound irreverent but intends a wholly affectionate tribute to his ferrous qualities, is proving happily misplaced. This is not the dull shimmer of iron, but a last glint of genetic gold.

Perhaps Giant's Causeway is looking down in vexation after his son Protonico just had a Derby winner effaced from the record. Depending how things go at Tampa Bay, however, maybe this time he won't have merely a vicarious presence at Churchill, admirably though he is being represented by Not This Time.

Mind you, even giant steps must always be made one at a time. The card also features the resumption, at long last, of the colt who looked like the pick of his crop this time last year. Let's hope the patience of everyone involved with Greatest Honour (Tapit) finds due reward in his maturity.

Ironically, his own sire's frustrating sophomore career gave a quite misleading impression about the toughness he has tended to impart to his stock; and someday, no doubt, Greatest Honour will validly recycle one of the best pedigrees you will ever see.

Certainly he won't be one of those stallions, so corrosive to the breed, that teeter to market on a wafer-thin page and a whizzbang speedfigure or two. The Thoroughbred's vocation is not for the flimsy of limb, nor the faint of heart. So while Crestwood may have lost their flagship, they have not lost their bearings. They are navigating by the stars, by the fixed points of soundness and pedigree, and we would all do well to follow in their wake.

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Multiple Grade I Winner, Grade I Producing Sire Get Stormy Dies

Get Stormy (Stormy Atlantic–Foolish Gal, by Kiri's Clown), a three-time Grade I winner and leading sire at Crestwood Farm, died unexpectedly Sunday at the age of 16 from what is believed to be a cardiac event, Crestwood reported Monday.

Bred and owned by Mary A. Sullivan, who races under the name Sullimar Stables, Get Stormy was trained by Tom Bush had a long, successful career that included seven graded stakes wins. Racing until the age of six, Get Stormy captured the GI Maker's Mark Mile S., GI Woodford Reserve Turf Classic S. and GI Gulfstream Park Turf H. From 31 career starts, he compiled a record of 11-5-4 and earned $1,606,812.

“Get Stormy was an amazing racehorse, and came to us with all the credentials and a tremendous following. He was such a great physical, and was a pleasure to be around,” said Crestwood's Pope McLean. “He was poised to become a top sire, as his best-bred crops have yet to race. We are sorry and shocked; he is a great loss to our farm and Storm Cat's legacy.”

Get Stormy was popular when he arrived at Crestwood Farm in 2013, breeding 120 mares in his first season. His first crop included Fifty Five, a nine-time stakes winner and millionaire who was named New York-Bred Champion Three-Year-Old Filly in 2017 and New York-Bred Champion Turf Female in 2019. Also hailing from Get Stormy's first crop was multiple graded stakes winner Storm the Hill.

Get Stormy's most prolific progeny so far is multiple Grade I-winning filly Got Stormy. An earner of $2,468,403, the chestnut defeated males in Saratoga's GI Fourstardave H. in 2019 and again in 2021, setting a new course record of one mile in 1:32 flat in the former victory. The Mark Casse trainee added another top-level triumph in the 2019 GI Matriarch S. at Del Mar.

As of this writing, Get Stormy is the sire of 123 winners from 230 runners, six graded stakes winners, 11 black-type winners and total progeny earnings of $12,188,748.

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Got Stormy Turns Back, Faces Males In Jackpocket Jaipur

MyRacehorse Stable and Spendthrift Farm's multiple Grade 1-winner Got Stormy joins defending race-winner and fellow mare Oleksandra in taking on the boys in Saturday's Grade 1, $400,000 Jackpocket Jaipur, a six-furlong turf sprint on Belmont Stakes Day.

The Belmont Stakes Racing Festival runs from Thursday through Saturday, June 5, culminating with the 153rd running of the Grade 1, $1.5 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets. The festival will encompass 17 total stakes, including eight Grade 1s on Belmont Stakes Day, capped by the “Test of the Champion” for 3-year-olds in the 1 1/2-mile final leg of the Triple Crown. First post on Belmont Stakes Day is 11:35 a.m. Eastern.

The 35th running of the Jackpocket Jaipur is a “Win and You're In” qualifier to the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint in November at Del Mar.

Got Stormy, a 6-year-old Get Stormy chestnut trained by Hall of Famer Mark Casse, boasts a record of 28-11-5-3 with purse earnings in excess of $2.1 million. The fan-favorite enjoyed a memorable summer campaign in 2019, besting the boys on one week's rest in course-record fashion in the Grade 1 Fourstardave, covering the mile in 1:32 flat over the firm inner turf at Saratoga. She completed her 2019 campaign with a win in the one-mile, Grade 1 Matriarch at Del Mar.

Last year, Got Stormy, made her first three starts at distances of one mile or greater before turning back to 6 1/2-furlongs to win the Grade 3 Ladies Sprint in September over soft going at Kentucky Downs. She followed with a win in the Grade 3 Buffalo Trace Franklin County at 5 1/2-furlongs on “good” Keeneland turf in October ahead of a close fifth, defeated two lengths by the victorious Glass Slippers, in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint in November at Keeneland.

Got Stormy launched her current campaign with a nose win in the one-mile Grade 3 Honey Fox in February at Gulfstream, but was an even fifth last out in the Grade 2 Distaff Turf Mile on May 1 at Churchill Downs.

Casse said the cut back in distance should benefit his charge.

“She likes to have a target,” said Casse. “A lot of times in these mile races, the pace isn't fast enough for her to have a target and we're hoping that won't be the case going three quarters.”

The veteran conditioner noted Got Stormy has proven comfortable on soft going at sprint distances.

“If there's some give in the ground, she won't mind it going six furlongs,” said Casse. “The give in the ground only bothers her going a mile, when she has some distance limitations.”

Tyler Gaffalione will ride Got Stormy from post 11.

Team Valor International's Oleksandra rallied to win last year's Jaipur by a neck over Kanthaka. The 7-year-old daughter of Animal Kingdom, who sports a ledger of 19-7-4-3 with purse earnings of $568,248, is winless in three starts this season.

Last out, the Neil Drysdale trainee rallied from 10th to finish fifth in the Unbridled Sydney at 5 1/2-furlongs over “good” Churchill Downs turf on April 29.

Joe Bravo has the call from post 9.

Multiple graded stakes-winner Bound for Nowhere, owned and trained by Wesley Ward, has flashed brilliance through a career record of 15-7-2-2 and purse earnings just shy of $1 million.

The 7-year-old son of The Factor garnered a 107 Beyer Speed Figure winning the 2018 Grade 2 Shakertown at Keeneland ahead of a close third in the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee at Ascot.

In 2019, Bound for Nowhere narrowly missed defending his Shakertown title when second, by a neck, to Imprimis. Last year Bound for Nowhere made just two starts, including a pacesetting third in the Shakertown, when a neck back of the victorious Leinster.

Bound for Nowhere made his seasonal debut by winning the Shakertown in dramatic fashion, besting familiar foe Imprimis by a nose over good Keeneland turf on April 13

Ward said Bound for Nowhere, a former workmate of multiple Group 1-winning mare Lady Aurelia, has turned a corner both physically and mentally as he looks to secure a first Grade 1 win.

“He's had a lot of minor issues along the way that's taken a lot of time to get to the races, which is why he's only had 15 total starts in his career, but this year he really turned the corner,” said Ward. “Each and every work is better than I've ever seen. He's always been the type of horse that wouldn't put much effort into his works. He used to be Lady Aurelia's workmate and he would get outworked every week.

“I know she was great, but this guy is a completely different work horse in the morning,” added Ward. “He's not letting anyone outwork him when he's in company. His times are significantly better than in the past. As you go into these big races, you're always dealing with issues. This time we're dealing with zero issues.”

Bound for Nowhere will exit post 6 under Joel Rosario.

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott will saddle a pair of contenders in Casa Creed and Chewing Gum.

LRE Racing and JEH Racing Stable's Casa Creed [post 2, Junior Alvarado], a 5-year-old Jimmy Creed bay, made the grade in the one-mile, Grade 2 Hall of Fame in August 2019 at Saratoga. A veteran of 19 starts with a record of 4-3-3 and purse earnings of $535,408, Casa Creed rallied to a smart score in the Elusive Quality in his third start of the campaign.

Wachtel Stable, Pantofel Stable and Jerold Zaro's graded-stakes placed Chewing Gum [post 1, Jose Ortiz] closed to finish second in the six-furlong Grade 3 Belmont Turf Sprint Invitational in October at Belmont. The consistent 6-year-old son of Candy Ride boasts a record of 17-3-3-6 and purse earnings of $308,288.

Mott also entered the stakes-placed Secret Rules for the main-track only.
Swifty Farms' Sombeyay, a 5-year-old son of Into Mischief trained by Peter Miller, has attracted the services of Flavien Prat from post 12.

Previously conditioned by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, Sombeyay captured the six-furlong 2018 Grade 3 Sanford on the Saratoga main track and added a win in the one-mile Grade 3 Canadian Turf in February 2020 at Gulfstream.

Sombeyay has made five starts for Miller since November, including an optional-claiming score on the Santa Anita turf in January. He has finished second in his most recent two starts in turf sprints, missing by a neck in the six-furlong Grade 3 San Simeon in March at Santa Anita and by a half-length to Fast Boat last out in the 5 1/2-furlong Grade 2 Turf Sprint on April 30 at Churchill Downs.

Robert D. Bone's multiple stakes winner Completed Pass, a 7-year-old Indiana-bred son of Pass Rush, has enjoyed turf sprint success on the Midlantic circuit, taking the Laurel Dash in September and the King T. Leatherbury in April at Pimlico.

Trained by Claudio Gonzalez, Completed Pass will exit post 3 under Angel Cruz.

Completing the field are Fast Boat [post 4, Irad Ortiz, Jr.], Greyes Creek [post 5, Ricardo Santana, Jr.], Gregorian Chant [post 8, Luis Saez], and Stubbins [post 10, Javier Castellano].

The Jackpocket Jaipur is slated as Race 6 on the 13-race card.

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Front-Running Get Smokin Takes Seek Again Foes Wire To Wire

Entering the $100,000 Seek Again for 4-year-olds and up going one mile on Belmont Park's Widener turf course, trainer Tom Bush said he was optimistic Get Smokin would benefit from a more compact schedule between starts. The ability to get in a rhythm paid off, as the Get Stormy gelding led the eight-horse field through every point of call and held off 9-5 favorite Flavius to post a three-quarters of a length score on Saturday at the Elmont, N.Y., track.

Get Smokin, who won the Grade 3 Tampa Bay going 1 1/16 miles on the Tampa Bay Downs turf on February 6, ran eighth after a nearly two-month respite in the Grade 1 Maker's Mark Mile on April 9 at Keeneland. Bush said Get Smokin can better demonstrate his ability when wheeling back in just five or six weeks, and the schedule adjustment resulted in his second win in three starts of his 4-year-old campaign.

Get Smokin broke sharp under jockey Junior Alvarado, leading the field through the opening quarter-mile in 24.25 seconds and the half in a moderate 48.61 over the firm turf as the Chad Brown-trained Flavius pressured the pacesetter from the second position.

Out of the turn, Alvarado kept his charge alert, maintaining the edge as Flavius made a stretch-drive bid from the outside. But Get Smokin did not wilt under pressure, finishing strong to the wire in a final time of 1:33.96.

“He's very quick,” Alvarado said. “If anyone else wants the lead, they have to work very hard. He broke sharp today again, which makes my job easy. I just had to nurse him along. Turning for home, I knew I had plenty of horse left and he gave me that nice kick that he has.

“You can never get too excited until you cross the wire first, but I was very happy with the pace I was going with him,” he added. “He was traveling comfortable enough that I knew he'd have a kick at the end.”

Bush, who also trained Get Stormy to nine stakes wins from 2009-'12, said the pace scenario set up well for Get Smokin.

“He's dangerous on the front end, that's for sure,” Bush said. “When they're loping along like that and they aren't using themselves too much, you're always happy to see that. I knew they'd be laying a little closer, too, since we were the only speed, but they couldn't get by him. It was a terrific effort.”

Owned by Mary Abeel Sullivan Revocable Trust, Get Smokin won for the third time in four career Belmont starts, going 2-for-2 in stakes at the Elmont-based track after winning the Grade 2 Hill Prince in October. Bred in Kentucky by Hurstland Farm and James Greene, Jr., Get Smokin improved to 4-3-2 in 14 career starts and increased his career earnings to $376,040.

“Junior was saying after the race that he would love for this horse to have a target and just lay second or third, but he's so good leaving the gate that you can't take the gate away from him,” Bush said. “This is what we were looking for today. That's the class of the horse. He didn't get discouraged and that's what good horses do.”

Off at 9-2, Get Smokin returned $10.80 on a $2 win wager in the Seek Again's inaugural edition. Bush said the effort could set him up for a start in the Grade 3, $250,00 Poker going one mile on June 20 at Belmont.

Flavius, a close fourth last out in the Grade 1 Frank E. Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita, was making just the second start of his 6-year-old year after ending 2020 with a second in the Grade 2 Seabiscuit Handicap in November at Del Mar. Flavius edged the Tom Morley-trained Tell Your Daddy by a nose for second on Saturday.

“It was a fun race because the two best horses fought all the way from the beginning to the finish,” said Flavius' Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano. “There was no pace in the race and he [Get Smokin] had pace and went pretty slow. With no pace and the winner being able to go 24 and 48, that probably cost us the race.”

Fellow Brown trainee Delaware finished fourth, with Grade 1-winner Decorated Invader running fifth. Tiberius Mercurius, Olympic Runner and Epic Dreamer completed the order of finish.

Main track-only entrants Danny California and Yankee Division were scratched.

Live racing continues Sunday with a nine-race card and a 1 p.m. Eastern first post.

Starting on May 1, Belmont Park re-opened to a limited number of spectators. All admission must be purchased in advance at nyra.com/belmont/tickets/.

For comprehensive information on health and safety protocols in effect for the Belmont Park spring/summer meet, please visit: https://www.nyra.com/belmont/visit/plan-your-visit.

 

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