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Got Stormy ‘Good And Ready’ To Debut For Spendthrift In Honey Fox

Seeing the price go up as multiple Grade 1-winning mare Got Stormy went through the sales ring last fall, Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse got a sinking feeling.

“I knew that there was a reserve on her. My wife and I watched from our office that night, and when she went well over the reserve, I said, 'Well …'” Casse recalled. “There was a sad moment.”

The feeling didn't last long. Shortly after the hammer fell, Casse's phone rang. At the other end was Ned Toffey, general manager since 2004 of Spendthrift Farm, which spent $2.75 million to acquire the multi-millionaire daughter of Get Stormy.

“I got a call about 15 minutes later from Ned Toffey and he said, 'I'm going to ask you a real dumb question. We bought her and we're going to run her another year, do you want to train her?'” Casse said. “I just laughed and I said, 'Yeah, that is a dumb question.'”

Got Stormy won 10 of 26 starts and more than $2 million in purses for Casse and previous owner Gary Barber. Eight of those wins came in stakes, five of them graded, including the Fourstardave (G1) over males and Matriarch (G1) in 2019.

“I had a conversation with Mark really right after we signed the ticket,” Toffey said. “Mark was really happy to have her rejoin his stable and he assured me that he felt like she would be more than ready to move forward and have a good year this year. Of course, we won't put her in a spot to do anything she can't do, and Mark's a great caretaker. Certainly the way she's worked has only heightened our excitement for what we'll see from her this year.”

Got Stormy will begin her fifth and final season of racing Saturday in the $125,000 Honey Fox (G3) at Gulfstream Park. The 36th running of the one-mile Honey Fox for fillies and mares 4 and up is among nine stakes, eight graded, worth $1.475 million on a spectacular 14-race program.

Headlining the card is the $300,000 Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth (G2) for 3-year-olds on the road to the $750,000 Curlin Florida Derby (G1) presented by Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa, and the $200,000 Davona Dale (G2) for 3-year-old fillies, featuring the season debut of 2020 juvenile filly champion Vequist.

First race post time is 11:30 a.m.

Got Stormy will be returning to Gulfstream for the first time since winning an optional claiming allowance in March 2019. It is where the daughter of Grade 3 turf-winning mare Malabar Gold broke her maiden in her third lifetime start in February 2018.

“We're very pleased with her. Last year I felt like maybe I didn't have her quite as ready for her first start when we ran her, and the one thing I did was I tried to get her ready on the dirt,” Casse said. “So, this year I changed my mind and I sent her down and she's been breezing over the turf. She loves to breeze on the turf. She should be a good and ready.”

Given a freshening following her fifth-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1) Nov. 7, and a pair of dirt workouts at Casse's training center in Ocala, Get Stormy joined his string at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream's satellite training center in Palm Beach County, where she has breezed five times since mid-January. Two of them were bullets, a five-furlong move in 57.35 seconds Feb. 5 and a half-mile work in 47.45 Feb. 12.

“She's doing well. She got a little break after the Breeders' Cup and Mark's just gradually brought her back along,” Toffey said. “In all of our conversations he's just been thrilled with how she's been working, so we're as excited as everybody else is to see what she does.”

Got Stormy raced eight times in 2020 with two wins and two seconds, finishing fourth in the Endeavour (G3) in her debut. She continued to race between a mile and a mile and a sixteenth without success, including a runner-up finish in defense of her Fourstardave title, before Casse cut her back to sprinting.

She responded by winning the 6 ½-furlong Ladies Sprint (G3) over a soft course at Kentucky Downs and the 5 ½-furlong Franklin County (G3) at Keeneland leading up to the Breeders' Cup, where she raced in mid-pack and wound up fifth, beaten two lengths.

“I'm anxious to see what the year brings for her [because] 2020 was a crazy year for a lot of reasons,” Casse said, “but for her, it was about weather, bad weather, and so many times running her on a track that she didn't care for. And she now has a new dimension; she can sprint, as well. So it opens up some options.

“The biggest thing for her is, I don't want to run her over a mile,” he added. “If she is going to run a mile, it has to be very fast.”

Got Stormy was not the only big-ticket purchase for Spendthrift last fall. They also went to $9.5 million for Monomoy Girl, the champion older mare of 2020 and champion 3-year-old filly of 2018 who is also back in training for one more year.

“We just thought it was a great opportunity for us to acquire some really good mares that eventually will wind up in our broodmare band. [Got Stormy] was one of a group that we bought that we felt could really upgrade our broodmare band and that we'd have a little fun with running for one more year before they come to Spendthrift. These kind don't come around very often,” Toffey said. “She's a pretty exciting type of mare, that's for sure.”

Regular rider Tyler Gaffalione will be aboard from Post 2 in a field of nine that includes main-track-only entrant Nomizar.

Casse also entered D. J. Stable's three-time graded-stakes placed Art of Almost. The Dansili mare will be opening her 5-year-old season after capping 2020 running second in the 1 ¼-mile Maple Leaf (G3) Nov. 7 at Woodbine and third in the 1 1/16-mile My Charmer Dec. 12 at Gulfstream. Hall of Famer John Velazquez rides from outside Post 9.

Heider Family Stables' Zofelle returned from 211 days between races to be a popular winner of the one-mile Marshua's River (G3) Jan. 23 at Gulfstream. It was the 5-year-old mare's first start since finishing fifth on the Just a Game (G1) last June at Belmont Park, after which she was given a break. Second in the one-mile Sand Springs last winter in her only other Gulfstream race, she will be ridden from Post 6 by Irad Ortiz Jr.

Three Diamonds Farm's Jakarta will be stretching out to a mile for the first time since winning the Powder Break last May at Gulfstream. Third to Got Stormy in the Franklin County, the 6-year-old Bustin Stones mare won the Claiming Crown Distaff Dash Dec. 3 and was fourth in the Abundantia Jan. 1, both five furlongs over Gulfstream's turf.

“She's stretching out a little bit, but she's doing well so we're looking forward to it,” Nolan Ramsey, assistant to trainer Mike Maker, said. “She's one of those horses where she always finds herself on the front end. I don't know that she's necessarily quick enough to go five-eighths down here. Speed seems to hold down here, so we're kind of hoping we might get things our way. We'd like to try her at least going a mile down here.”

Kendrick Carmouche, in from New York to ride Fire At Will in the Fountain of Youth, has the assignment on Jakarta from Post 8.

Completing the field are multiple stakes winner Feel Glorious; Bienville Street, neck winner of the 1 1/16-mile Sunshine Filly & Mare Turf Jan. 16 at Gulfstream; Secret Time, runner-up in the Cellars Shiraz Nov. 7 at Gulfstream Park West last out; and Ricetta, Group 3-placed in England last summer.

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Get Smokin Sharp Off Layoff, Wins Tampa Bay Stakes

Making his first start since late November, Mary Abeel Sulllivan Revocable Trust's Get Smokin sat just off the lead for the first six furlongs, took command on the turn for home, then drew off comfortably to win Saturday's Grade 3, $175,000 Tampa Bay Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs in Oldsmar, Fla.

Ridden by Junior Alvarado, the Thomas Bush-trained 4-year-old gelded son of Get Stormy covered 1 1/16 miles on firm turf in 1:40.75. He returned $10 for the win, his third in 12 starts and second graded stakes triumph.

Eons checked in second, three-quarters of a length behind the winner, with a fast closing Admission Office a neck back in third, Talk or Listen fourth and 5-2 favorite Greyes Creek fifth in the field of 12 older runners.

Usually a front-runner, including his last start when fourth in the G1 Hollywood Derby at Del Mar, Get Smokin settled into second when longshot Proven Strategies forged to an early lead. The latter went an opening quarter mile in :22.75, a half in :46.39 and six furlongs in 1:10.65.

Alvarado sent Get Smokin after the pacesetter into the far turn and the gelding spurted away from the field with a strong move at the top of the stretch. He hit the mile marker in 1:34.44 en route to his final clocking.

“I had to get out of there running,” said Alvarado. “He's a fast horse and he likes to be on the lead, but I knew (Proven Strategies) has a lot of speed too, so it wasn't necessary for me to keep going after him and go head-to-head. So I took a hold and my horse came back to me beautifully and relaxed so well. I knew the whole way around I had plenty of horse under me and by the three-eighths pole, when I put him outside and started picking it up, I had plenty of horse left. Turning for home, I was just a passenger and keeping him happy and he started picking it up on his own without me asking, so I knew I was in good shape.”

“We're thrilled,” Bush said. “We were worried about the speed in there and I knew that one horse (pace-setter Proven Strategies) would be a little bit of a thorn in our side today, but (Get Smokin) was ready today. We were pretty confident. (Junior Alvarado) rode a beauty for sure. Our horse was coming into it great, we gave him a little freshening after California and he has really responded since he got to Florida. He's been in the feed tub and we were really hoping he would run this race and he did. We're probably going to hold off on him and hopefully he will be ready for Keeneland. (Owner Mary Abeel Sullivan) lives in Vero Beach and just watched it on TV and she just called and is very excited. She will be 92 on Monday and is thrilled.”

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Making Claims: Joe Nevills’ Five Fearless Predictions For The Bloodstock Market In 2021

In “Making Claims,” Paulick Report bloodstock editor Joe Nevills shares his opinions on the Thoroughbred industry from the breeding and sales arenas to the racing world and beyond.

Making predictions at the beginning of 2020 meant starting with certainty and taking a wild detour after COVID-19 changed the world. Assuming the distribution of the vaccine goes to plan and normalcy returns by the end of 2021, we could see the inverse.

Regardless of the start and end points on a global scale, the bloodstock market rolls on as ever. With a new year ahead of us, I have five predictions for how the marketplace will play out in 2021.

1) Into Mischief Will Repeat As Leading General Sire

Into Mischief had a season for the ages in 2020, setting the single-season record for progeny earnings, spearheaded by probable Horse of the Year Authentic, and Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner Gamine.

The Spendthrift Farm resident has been set up for a long reign at the top, thanks to the two things that put any stallion in a position to succeed: quantity and quality in his books of mares. Arguably no other stallion in North America has a stronger pipeline of future runners to keep him at the top of the sire list for the foreseeable future.

Into Mischief is annually at or near the top of the list when The Jockey Club's Report of Mares Bred reveals the most active stallions of a given breeding season, and that was true in 2018, when the 2-year-olds of 2021 were conceived. He has 199 registered live foals among his 2-year-old crop of 2021, which is 41 more than next-closest Klimt. Adding that group to the list of later developers who will certainly mature into stars during their 3-year-old and 4-year-old seasons, that's a strong platoon of runners that figures to get stronger.

Furthermore, Into Mischief covered the strongest book of mares of his career in 2018. That fact was true for several years before that season, and it's certainly true for every season that's followed. Now that he's reached the top of the mountain, that doesn't figure on changing anytime soon.

2) The Report Of Mares Bred Will Continue To Decline, But Not By Much

I could go into all sorts of tiny details as to why the number of mares bred, and the ensuing foal crop, will continue to reach depths not seen in decades, but the simple reasoning here is, “Why wouldn't it?”

The commercial market is trending slightly downward; COVID-19 and its biological, social, and economic ramifications will still be a hindrance for most folks during the bulk of the breeding season; and purses are going to be a mixed bag in 2021 until live handle starts hitting the accounts in full force and supporting casinos are back at full capacity. In short, there just isn't a compelling reason to assume the number of mares added to production will surpass those taken out.

That doesn't mean the bottom's about to fall out, though. Last year's November sales displayed a “hold” market, both in terms of the horses that weren't cataloged and the ones that were bought back. This suggests that breeders are willing to ride out the current uncertainty with the hand they've got, instead of getting out altogether.

There's not a compelling reason to think the number of mares bred will go up, but there's also not a compelling reason to think they'll tank, either. We haven't found the bottom yet, but I think we're close.

3) Practical Joke Will Be The Leading Freshman Sire Of 2021

There are typically two roads to the top when it comes to the freshman sire race. One can flood the market with foals and succeed by attrition by getting a lot of runners into the winner's circle, particularly in minor stakes races (Overanalyze). Others are spearheaded by a star runner or two who vault them to the top with big performances in big spots like the Breeders' Cup (Cross Traffic, Dialed In, Nyquist). Sometimes, a true star will hit both targets (Uncle Mo, American Pharoah).

Practical Joke hits that sweet spot in between, where he has a ton of foals ready to go in his debut crop, and he was well-supported by home farm Ashford Stud and outside breeders. He has 147 juveniles of 2021, which is the fifth-most of any North American sire. He'll have plenty of bullets to fire.

Practical Joke also has the pedigree to back it up. His sire, Into Mischief, is one of the most proven sources of juvenile success going today. Practical Joke was himself an example of that success, taking home a pair of Grade 1 wins as a 2-year-old, and a third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

Physically, Practical Joke is a ball of muscle, which should translate to an early developer who can get the job done around one turn. There's no reason to expect the Practical Jokes won't come out firing. If a few can get it done on the graded stakes level, he could run away with it.

4) The COVID-19 Vaccine Won't Change Much

There are a lot of industries where the COVID-19 vaccine figures to be a magic bullet to return things back to normal. Regardless of when that normalcy returns, and the general public can freely return to the races and sales, I don't expect the bloodstock market to experience quite the same sudden resurgence.

This is a market that was already starting to show fissures from the record-setting highs of a few years ago, and like many industries, the complications of COVID-19 sped up the downturn. Even if returns are up in 2021, there is a fair bit of ground to make up to bring things back to where they were, and that was going to be a challenge whether the world came to a grinding halt in 2020 or not.

Working in the market's favor is the fact that the sale calendar should largely be back to normal in 2021, after the initial uncertainty of last spring decimated the 2-year-old sale calendar and the first half of the yearling season. Assuming the schedule holds, the security of knowing when horses are going to be bought and sold should help both sides prepare appropriately.

We'll learn a lot from the early 2-year-old sales, which will not only will show us how buyers are feeling about spending money on racehorses, it will set the bankroll for a large chunk of the buyers during the ensuing yearling season. The yearling market felt the effects of the scrambled 2-year-old calendar and shaky economy in the spring of 2020, and this spring will either speed up that inertia or reverse it.

Perhaps most importantly, the reason the vaccine won't change much about the bloodstock market is that the bloodstock market went on without one in 2020, especially in the latter half of the year. There are some complications that figure on being eased once more people are able to travel freely, especially in terms of international buyers, but the climb back will not be as high as a business that's had to operate without one of its major sources of income, like a restaurant without a dining room.

More or less, life went on for horse trade in 2020. Because of that, there's not as much ground to make up when life starts to go on again for everyone else.

5) Get Stormy Makes The Leap

After covering 111 or more mares in his first two seasons at stud, things got quiet in the breeding shed for Crestwood Farm's Get Stormy.

At first, it was the usual lull that befalls many stallions in their third and fourth books. Then, his first couple seasons with runners on the track were solid, but lacked the superstars the market demands to line up the trailers on Spurr Road.

In 2018, Get Stormy's runners found their mojo. Got Stormy launched her superstar career with three stakes victories, including a Grade 3 score. The stallion also rung up Grade 3 wins that year with Storm the Hill and Go Noni Go, and he had a handful of others bring in graded stakes placings. He finished the 2018 season in the top five among third-crop sires by stakes winners and tied for second in that group by graded stakes winners.

Breeders took notice, and nearly doubled Get Stormy's book from 47 mares in 2018 to 86 mares in 2019. Between then and now, Got Stormy has become a true star of the turf, Fifty Five has become a millionaire, and Clyde's Image has multiple Grade 1 placings. Get Stormy was a top-10 sire by graded stakes winners on turf, and by total turf stakes winners in 2020, both with fewer starters than any active stallion ahead of him.

Get Stormy is still looking for his first serious juvenile runner, but he has the opportunity to send more 2-year-olds to post in 2021 than he's seen since his second crop hit the track in 2017. The stallion's foals conceived in 2019 had a roadmap to what makes a graded stakes-winning horse with Get Stormy, suggesting the quality and intent of the mares sent his way were clearer than before. This should, in turn, give him the best chance of his life of getting over the hump with a good 2-year-old.

Looking at the breeding season, Get Stormy's stock as a sire of runners has been on the rise, and his average yearling sale price has been climbing steadily year-over-year. It wouldn't be unreasonable to expect Get Stormy to eclipse 100 mares in 2021, especially at a completely reasonable stud fee of $7,500.

Get Stormy is on his way to becoming a made man in Kentucky. This year could be the one that fully establishes it.

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Get Smokin Turns Tables On Decorated Invader In Hill Prince Upset

Mary Abeel Sullivan Revocable Trust's Get Smokin made every call a winning one to turn the tables on familiar foe Decorated Invader in Sunday's Grade 2, $150,000 Hill Prince, a one-mile Widener turf test for sophomores at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

Trained by Tom Bush and expertly piloted by Hall of Famer Javier Castellano, Get Smokin ensured his fourth attempt versus Decorated Invader was successful after finishing third in the Cutler Bay in March at Gulfstream Park and second in the G2 Hall of Fame in July at Saratoga in races won by his Christophe Clement-trained rival. Both Get Smokin [8th] and Decorated Invader [5th] entered the Hill Prince from off-the-board efforts in the 1 3/16-mile Saratoga Derby Invitational on Aug. 15.

The free-wheeling Get Smokin once again broke sharply Sunday and led the field of seven through splits of 24.25 seconds and 49.52 over the yielding turf, with Assiduously tracking in second. Decorated Invader, the prohibitive 2-5 mutuel favorite, raced from sixth position under Joel Rosario as Get Smokin continued to dictate a moderate tempo into the turn.

Bodecream advanced along the rail late in the turn with Starting Over following suit to his outside as Decorated Invader was roused into action racing inside of Buy Land and See. Get Smokin maintained a two-length advantage at the stretch call, as Decorated Invader surged beyond Starting Over and angled outside of Assiduously and the stubborn Bodecream to take dead aim at the leader.

Decorated Invader continued to find more inside the final sixteenth under urging from Rosario, but there was no reeling in Get Smokin who held on for a head score in a final time of 1:36.95.

It was a further two lengths back to Bodecream in third with Buy Land and See, Starting Over, Glynn County and Assiduously rounding out the order of finish. Chocolate Bar and main-track only entrant Money Moves were scratched.

Castellano, who guided Get Smokin to a second-out maiden score in September 2019 on the Belmont turf, secured his third win in the Hill Prince following scores with Rey de Café [2005] and Outperformance [2006].

“The way I handicapped the race, I felt the horse would fit the mile perfectly,” said Castellano. “The last race was a little longer. The last time the horse won, I was on him when he broke his maiden last year.”

Get Smokin is by the Bush-trained multiple Grade 1-winner Get Stormy, who Castellano piloted to six wins in prominent fashion.

“When I got to the paddock, the first thing he [Bush] told me was, 'ride him like Get Stormy,' and that's what I did,” said Castellano. “I rode his father at Keeneland and New York, too. Today, he was so patient. I was walking the dog, basically. I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time.”

Get Smokin narrowly missed making the grade in his seasonal debut when second, defeated a half-length to Island Commish in the Grade 3 Kitten's Joy on January 4 at Gulfstream Park.

The front-running chestnut continued that run of form at the Hallandale Beach oval with a second in the Dania Beach in February ahead of the Cutler Bay effort.

Following a freshening, Get Smokin returned to action in June at Belmont to be fifth in an allowance tilt ahead of a memorable Grade 2 Hall of Fame run in which he opened up a 7 ½-length lead at the half-mile, only to be collared late by Decorated Invader. He arrived at the Hill Prince from a pacesetting eighth in the Saratoga Derby Invitational on August 15, where he leapt at the start.

“He's been in some tough spots in running against the best horses on the East Coast, so we pointed for this race since Saratoga and we're really delighted,” said Bush. “We weren't sure about the soft ground, but he handled it.

“I've thrown this horse to the wolves,” continued Bush. “He's one of these rare horses that you'll see horses that run very out of their condition and they don't get discouraged and keep being a top runner and that's the type of horse he is. You're not breaking his spirit.”

Rosario said Decorated Invader, who won the Grade 1 Summer at Woodbine as a juvenile, was hampered by traffic trouble when trying to find a clear path for the stretch run.

“With the soft ground, it's hard to close. He ran well. He put in his effort,” said Rosario. “Turning for home, I had to start moving. Then, the horse in front of me came out a little bit, so that got him out of balance. He ran a good race. He looked like he was going comfortable. He was trying hard, but it's just too bad we couldn't get them.”

Bred in Kentucky by Hurstland Farm, Get Smokin banked $82,500 in victory while improving his record to 10-2-3-2. He paid $17.40 for a $2 win ticket.

Live racing resumes Thursday with a nine-race card at Belmont with a first post of 12:50 p.m. Eastern.

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