Get Stormy | Horse Racing Free Tips

Casse Team ‘Very Pleased’ With Got Stormy Ahead Of Fourstardave Title Defense

Gary Barber's multiple Grade 1-winning millionaire Got Stormy, still seeking her first win of the season, fired a bullet work over the Oklahoma training turf course Friday morning ahead of her expected title defense in the Grade 1, $400,000 Fourstardave on Aug. 22 at Saratoga.

The 5-year-old Get Stormy mare went out just before 10 a.m. and was clocked in 1:00.50 over the firm going, fastest of nine horses at the distance. It was her second work since arriving in Saratoga and first on the grass; she breezed a half-mile in 48.32 seconds on the main track July 22.

“I'm happy with the work,” Jamie Begg, assistant to trainer Mark Casse, said. “Some races she's been getting a little bit aggressive up front, so we started her off slow and let her come home with a good kick, and she did it well. We're very pleased.”

Got Stormy capped 2019 with a popular victory in the Matriarch last December at Del Mar, her second career Grade 1 triumph. The first came last summer over males in the one-mile Fourstardave, a “Win and You're In” race for the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Mile in November at Keeneland.

“I think track condition could maybe play a role in whether or not we go that route,” Begg said, “but that's where we're initially pointing at this point.”

Second in last year's Breeders' Cup Mile, Got Stormy has eight wins, four seconds, three thirds and more than $1.5 million in purse earnings from 22 lifetime starts. She is undefeated at Saratoga, capturing the Fasig-Tipton De La Rose – her only ungraded race in the last 11 – prior to her 2 ½-length triumph in last year's Fourstardave.

Got Stormy opened this year running fourth in the Grade 3 Endeavour at Tampa Bay Downs, then shipped cross country and finished second in the Grade 1 Frank E. Kilroe Mile March 7 at Santa Anita. Given a brief freshening, she was fourth in the Grade 3 Beaugay June 3 and Grade 3 Poker July 4, both at Belmont Park.

The connections are hoping a return to one of her favorite surfaces, plus a spate of good weather, will prove the right combination to get Got Stormy back on the winning track. Prior to her current stretch, she had never lost more than two consecutive races.

“She clearly really likes this turf course,” Begg said. “It was a little wet earlier in the meet but there's been a little less rain recently. I think it's starting to dry out because speed's been holding a little better on it. We'll see. Hopefully it keeps going that way and we'll get a good race out of her.”

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Grade 1 Winner Got Stormy Takes On Males Again In Poker Stakes

Gary Barber's Got Stormy will once again take on the boys as she looks for the first win of her 2020 campaign in Saturday's Grade 3, $150,000 Poker, a one-mile turf test for older horses on Runhappy Met Mile Day July 4 at Belmont Park.

The Grade 3 Poker is one of five graded stakes on a loaded card headlined by the Grade 1 Runhappy Met Mile, open to 3-year-olds and up, offering a berth in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile; along with the Grade 1, $400,000 Manhattan for 4-year-olds and up going 1 1/4-miles on turf; the Grade 2, $200,000 Suburban, a 1 1/4-mile test on Big Sandy; and the Grade 3, $100,000 Victory Ride, a 6 1/2-furlong sprint for sophomore fillies.

Slated as Race 8 at 5:13 p.m. Eastern on Saturday's 11-race card, which offers a first post of 1:15 p.m., the Poker will feature live on NBC from 5 – 6 p.m. Eastern.

In August, Got Stormy, a 5-year-old daughter of Get Stormy, became the first filly to win the Grade 1 Fourstardave, in its 35th running, besting the boys at one mile over a firm inner turf in a track record 1:32 flat at Saratoga Race Course.

Trained by Hall of Famer Mark Casse, Got Stormy would face males in her next two starts finishing second in both the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile, over soft going, and Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Mile at Santa Anita. She completed a stellar season with a win in the Grade 1 Matriarch at Del Mar.

Winless in three starts this season, Got Stormy's best effort came when second by a neck to River Boyne in the Grade 1 Frank E. Kilroe Mile on March 7 at Santa Anita. Last out, she ran fourth in the Grade 3 Beaugay when chasing frontrunning winner Rushing Fall off a near three-month layoff on June 3 at Belmont.

“The California race was very good. Her last race was disappointing, but we took her out of her element,” said Casse. ” There was no speed in the race and we tried to keep her closer and that was to her demise. We won't do that again, we'll let her settle.”

Got Stormy scratched out of last Saturday's Grade 1 Just a Game after persistent rainstorms soaked the Belmont green. Casse said he made the call after watching Monkeyseemonkeydo win a seven-furlong turf maiden in 1:24.15.

“After watching them run seven-eighths in 24 and change, I said this turf is not for us,” said Casse. “She didn't get really good until last summer and her best races are on hard ground. I think the soft turf got her beat in the Woodbine Mile and she was just beat by a better horse at the Breeders' Cup.

“We're just trying to find her top form and I believe it has to do with a harder turf course,” added Casse. “She won't get it this weekend at Belmont, but she also likes the sharper turns at Saratoga and Santa Anita because she has a quick turn of foot when you ask her to go.”

Hall of Famer John Velazquez, who piloted Got Stormy to victory in the 2018 Wild Applause at one-mile on the Belmont turf, will be legged up on the talented chestnut for just the second time from post 7.

Four-time Eclipse Award-winner Chad Brown, leading trainer at the Belmont spring/summer meet, will saddle the formidable duo of Grade 1-winner Valid Point and the improving Value Proposition.

Owned by e Five Racing Thoroughbreds and Michael J. Ryan, Valid Point won his first three career starts topped by a one-length score in the Grade 1 Secretariat in August at Arlington Park. The 4-year-old Scat Daddy colt completed his campaign with an off-the-board effort in October in the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland.

Klaravich Stables' Value Proposition, a dark bay son of Dansili, garnered a career-best 100 Beyer Speed Figure last out when capturing an optional-claiming turf mile on June 3 at Belmont Park.

Hall of Famer Javier Castellano will pilot Valid Point from post 2 while Value Proposition will exit post 9 under Irad Ortiz, Jr.

The Elkstone Group's Social Paranoia, trained by Todd Pletcher, offers a consistent record of 14-3-4-5 with purse earnings of $847,210. The 4-year-old Street Boss colt ran second here last year in Grade 1 Belmont Derby Invitational over 1 ¼-miles on the Widener turf to kick off the Turf Triple series. Social Paranoia was an even fourth in the Saratoga Derby Invitational, second leg of the Turf Triple, before winning the Dueling Grounds Derby at 1 5/16-miles at Kentucky Downs.

Social Paranoia made the grade in his seasonal debut with a rousing last-to-first charge in the Grade 3 Appleton, a one-mile turf test on March 28 at Gulfstream Park. He arrives at the Poker from an off-the-board effort in the Grade 2 Fort Marcy contested over nine furlongs on a Belmont inner turf rated good.

Jose Ortiz has the call aboard Social Paranoia from post 5.

Juddmonte Farms homebred Seismic Wave, trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, captured the English Channel at one-mile on the Widener turf to close out his sophomore season. The Tapit chestnut, who boasts a record of 12-3-2-2, launched a seven-wide rally in his seasonal debut when charging from last-of-13 to finish fourth in the First Defence, a seven-furlong Widener turf test on June 7 at Belmont.

Joel Rosario retains the mount from post 4.

Rounding out the field are Dream Friend [Jose Lezcano, post 1], Hawkish [Manny Franco, post 3], Eons [Kendrick Carmouche, post 6], and main-track only entrant Its All Relevant [Romero Maragh, post 8].

America's Day at the Races, produced by NYRA in partnership with FOX Sports, and airing live on Fox Sports and MSG+ will offer live coverage of Belmont Park stakes action on Saturday from 1 – 5 p.m. and from 6 – 7 p.m. on FS1. Free Equibase-provided past performances are available for races that are part of the America's Day at the Races broadcast and can be accessed at https://www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/tv-schedule.

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Fifty Five Will Try For Mount Vernon Repeat Off An Eight-Month Layoff

Peter Brant's Fifty Five will look to repeat as the winner of the $100,000 Mount Vernon as part of a seven-horse field of New York-bred fillies and mares 4-years-old and up on Thursday at Belmont Park.

The millionaire mare won last year's Mount Vernon at one mile on the Widener turf course, building on a second-place effort in the race's 2018 edition for trainer Chad Brown. A 6-year-old daughter of Get Stormy, Fifty Five was slated to make her 2020 debut in the Grade 3 Beaugay on Opening Day, June 3, but will now make her first start off an eight-month layoff looking to pick up where her 5-year-old year ended, with wins in the John Hettinger and Ticonderoga over the Belmont turf.

A graded stakes winner – via a rallying victory the 2017 Grade 3 Florida Oaks – Fifty Five is 11-4-5 in 22 career starts and just as consistent at Belmont, going 7-2-1 in 11 races. Hall of Famer Javier Castellano, aboard for her last five starts, including three wins, will have the return call from the inside post.

Her stablemate, Michael Dubb's War Canoe, ran second in the John Hettinger in September and third in the Ticonderoga before capping her 2019 with a win against optional claimers in November at Aqueduct Racetrack. Also off a layoff, War Canoe will have the services of Irad Ortiz, Jr. from post 3.

Trainer Christophe Clement will also saddle a pair of contenders, including Munchkin Money, who started her 7-year-old season with back-to-back graded stakes appearances, running second in the 1 1/16-mile Marshua's River in January at Gulfstream Park before running seventh on the same track in the Grade 3 Honey Fox at one mile on February 29.

Munchkin Money, a daughter of Freud, wintered at Payson Park in Florida before resuming training in June at Belmont. She will be making her first start in four months, drawing post 4 with Manny Franco in the irons.

“She seems to be training forwardly,” Clement said. “Do we have her back to her best form? I'm not sure yet. She's training well. We're taking a shot. I'm just hoping she's back to her best. I think she can handle anything [firm or softer turf].”

Dubb and Bethlehem Stables' Classic Lady will be making her first start since Clement took over the training duties. The 5-year-old daughter of Jimmy Creed will be making her first stakes appearance in her 16th career start, going 3-4-3, and will now look to shine for her new connections in her first start since November when she bested optional claimers by a nose at 1 1/16 miles at the Big A.

Classic Lady has posted six official workouts at Belmont since May, starting on the main track before switching her training to the inner turf in the mornings.

“Her work on turf has been much better than her work on dirt,” Clement said. “She's sound. She looks well and healthy, so we're ready to go.”

Joel Rosario will ride from post 5.

Rounding out the field is Niko's Dream, looking to capture her first stakes for Belmont Stakes-winning trainer Barclay Tagg, in her first stakes appearance of the year [post 7, Dylan Davis]; Kreesie, a winner of the 2018 New York Stallion Stakes Series Cupecoy's Joy for trainer David Donk [post 6, Eric Cancel]; and Fetching, returning to stakes company for the first time in five starts for trainer Mark Casse [post 2, Junior Alvarado].

The Mount Vernon, slated as Race 8 on the nine-race card at 5:04 p.m. Eastern, will feature on America's Day at the Races, produced by NYRA in partnership with FOX Sports, and airing live on FOX Sports and MSG+. Free Equibase-provided past performances are available for races that are part of the broadcast and can be accessed at www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/tv-schedule.

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