Tyler Gaffalione | Horse Racing Free Tips

Got Stormy Digs Deep, Flies Late To Win Franklin County Stakes

Gary Barber's Grade 1-winning mare Got Stormy made a giant late run in Friday afternoon's Grade 3 Franklin County Stakes at Keeneland, making up over 10 lengths to nail Into Mystic on the wire. A photo finish showed Got Stormy the winner by a head under Tyler Gaffalione, paying $3.80 as the heavy favorite. Trained by Mark Casse, the 5-year-old daughter of Get Stormy ran 5 1/2 furlongs over the turf course rated “good” in 1:02.33.

The Franklin was Got Stormy's second win in a row this season, following her victory in the Kentucky Downs Ladies Sprint Stakes on Sept. 12. She has not been worse than fourth this season, including a second-place finish in the 2020 Grade 1 Fourstardave, the race she won over males in 2019 before a strong second-place finish behind Uni in the Breeders' Cup Mile.

“My goodness, I wasn't sure (if she got there),” Casse said after the Franklin County. “I called (owner) Gary (Barber) and he was like 'I think we got beat.' She got shuffled back pretty good and I was like 'Oh, Tyler'. And then I kind of got excited because I knew when he wheeled her out she would come running. But that second place horse (Into Mystic) was tough, she hung in there. She didn't give it up. But what a wonderful mare (Got Stormy) is. Unbelievable.”

Got Stormy will now be pointed to the Breeders' Cup on Nov. 7 at Keeneland, and Casse said she will run in either the Turf Sprint or the Mile, depending on the condition of the turf course.

Jakarta led the field of 10 through a first quarter-mile in :21.84 as Gaffalione had Got Stormy in ninth and in the clear. Jakarta maintained the advantage through the half-mile, turning back initial bids from Surrender Now and Stillwater Cove.

At the head of the stretch, Into Mystic launched a bid three wide to get first run at the leader while Got Stormy swung six wide with three horses beat to begin her run. Into Mystic got the lead at midstretch from Jakarta but could not hold off the final surge from Got Stormy.

The victory was worth $90,000 and boosted Got Stormy's career earnings to $1,991,378 with a record of 25-10-5-3 that includes two Grade 1 victories.

A Keeneland sales graduate, Got Stormy is a 5-year-old Kentucky-bred daughter of Get Stormy out of the Malabar Gold mare Super Phoebe.

Got Stormy paid $3.80, $3 and $2.60. Into Mystic, ridden by Joe Talamo, returned $4.40 and $2.80 and finished a length in front of Jakarta, who paid $3.80 to show under Javier Castellano.

It was another length back to Change of Control, who was followed in order by Winning Envelope, Surrender Now, Stillwater Cove, Ambassador Luna, Violent Times and Chalon.

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Got Stormy Up In Time in Franklin County

Making just her second lifetime appearance in a true one-turn race and trying a distance as short as 5 1/2 furlongs for the first time in career start number 25, the classy Got Stormy (Get Stormy) needed every inch of the Keeneland stretch, but was shoved across the line by Tyler Gaffalione to win Friday’s GIII Buffalo Trace Franklin County S.

Got Stormy broke outward at the start, bothering Chalon (Dialed In) to her outside, and settled near the back of the field through the opening exchanges. Not rushed into the race and patiently handled while racing with cover on the turn, the chestnut was steered out to the grandstand side, but had the better part of a six-length deficit to overcome with time ticking away. But the 9-10 favorite sustained her rally into the final furlong and dropped her nose down just ahead of Into Mystic (Into Mischief), whom she defeated into third in their previous head-to-head battle in the GIII Ladies’ Sprint S. at Kentucky Downs Sept. 12. Got Stormy covered her final three-sixteenths of a mile in an other-worldly :16.75. She sprinted her final 110 yards in :5.69. Into Mystic sat a cozy trip inside, pulled out three wide at the entrance to the stretch and proved a luckless loser. Jakarta (Bustin Stones) made the running and settled for third.

Runner-up to Uni (GB) (More Than Ready) in last year’s GI Breeders’ Cup Mile, Got Stormy closed the season victoriously in the GI Matriarch S., but took some time to find form this year. Ridden a bit handier to the pace than she had been in 2019, Got Stormy just missed against males in the GI Kilroe Mile in March, but was no better than fourth in Belmont’s GIII Beaugay S. June 3 and in the GIII Poker S. July 4. She hinted at a return to her best with a hard-trying second to loose-on-the-lead Halladay (War Front) in defense of her title in the GI Fourstardave H. at Saratoga Aug. 22 before successfully dropping back to 6 1/2 furlongs over soft turf at Kentucky Downs last time.

Winning trainer Mark Casse indicated that Mother Nature could have a hand in which Breeders’ Cup race Got Stormy ends up in.

“[Owner] Gary [Barber] and I will talk about it and if the turf course were to be extremely firm, it would be a decision [between the Mile and the Turf Sprint]. It’s all going to depend on weather,” the conditioner said.

Pedigree Notes:

Got Stormy is one of two stakes performers for her dam, a half-sister to the Mt. Joy-bred MGSW/MGISP Smooth Air (Smooth Jazz) and to Grade II-winning juvenile Overdriven (Dixie Union). Third dam Twin Propeller was a reliable runner for Brian Burns’s operation in the Midwest, winning stakes events at the Fair Grounds and at Arlington Park while under the care of the late Gene Cilio. Got Stormy has a 2-year-old half-brother named Got Curly (Super Saver), a yearling half-brother by Mohaymen and a weanling half-brother by Bolt d’Oro. She was covered by Uncle Mo this past breeding season.

Friday, Keeneland
BUFFALO TRACE FRANKLIN COUNTY S.-GIII, $150,000, Keeneland, 10-9, 3yo/up, f/m, 5 1/2fT, 1:02.33, gd.
1–GOT STORMY, 124, m, 5, by Get Stormy
                1st Dam: Super Phoebe, by Malabar Gold
                2nd Dam: Air France, by French Deputy
                3rd Dam: Twin Propeller, by Known Fact
($23,000 Ylg ’16 KEESEP; $45,000 2yo ’17 EASMAY). O-Gary
Barber; B-Mt. Joy Stables, Pope, Marc & Pope McLean Jr. (KY);
T-Mark E. Casse; J-Tyler Gaffalione. $90,000. Lifetime Record:
MGISW, 25-10-5-3, $1,991,378. *1/2 to Sky Gold (Successful
Appeal), SP, $151,020. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Into Mystic, 120, f, 4, Into Mischief–Loveofalifetime, by
Medaglia d’Oro. ($650,000 2yo ’18 OBSAPR). O-Coleman,
George Chris and King, Brad; B-Runnymede Farm Inc. &
Catesby W. Clay Investment 2 LLC (KY); T-Brendan P. Walsh.
$30,000.
3–Jakarta, 120, m, 5, Bustin Stones–T J’s Stormy Wit, by
Stormello. ($35,000 4yo ’19 EASDEC). O-Three Diamonds
Farm; B-Arrowwood Farm (PA); T-Michael J. Maker. $15,000.
Margins: NO, 1, 1. Odds: 0.90, 4.50, 6.30.
Also Ran: Change of Control, Winning Envelope, Surrender Now, Stillwater Cove, Ambassador Luna, Violent Times, Chalon. Scratched: Bohemian Bourbon, Tomlin. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree

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McPeek, Gaffalione’s Agent Pointing Fingers Over Preakness Decision With Swiss Skydiver

Tyler Gaffalione rode top 3-year-old filly Swiss Skydiver to win the G1 Alabama and then to a second-place finish in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks, and according to her trainer Ken McPeek, was scheduled to ride her in her next start, as well. This week, McPeek told the Thoroughbred Daily News that Gaffalione's agent, Matt Muzikar, had reneged on their agreement.

“I announced that we're going to run in the Preakness and Tyler was on board,” McPeek said on the podcast. “By maybe 6:00 that night, his agent tells us that he can't ride. And I'm like, 'Look, you've given us a two-race commitment [GI Kentucky Oaks and Preakness].' He said, 'Oh well, sorry, I've got to ride for Chad Brown at Keeneland.' I said, 'You can't do this. It's dishonorable.' I've been doing this for 35 years and I've never had something like that happen. I still find it dishonorable. Shame on Tyler Gaffalione and his agent.”

Muzikar responded Friday, telling TDN that McPeek had informed him, nine days prior, that Swiss Skydiver would be running in the Spinster Stakes at Keeneland, held on the day after this year's Preakness Stakes. Thus, Muzikar began booking Gaffalione mounts for Keeneland that weekend.

When McPeek announced that he planned to run the filly in the Preakness at Pimlico instead, seven days ahead of the race, Muzikar wasn't able to get out of his commitments at Keeneland on Saturday. McPeek wound up giving the Preakness call on Swiss Skydiver to Robby Albarado, who won the race.

“What did he expect us to do? Not take business for the Preakness card or at Keeneland and sit there and wait for Kenny McPeek because the world revolves around him?” Muzikar said. “Knocking me and the jockey, he crossed a line.

“Tyler had nothing to do with this whole situation, so I don't like him knocking the jockey. Tyler is the greatest kid and the greatest jock I have had in the 26 years I have been doing this. He did nothing to him.”

Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News.

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Gaffalione Agent Responds to McPeek Criticism

The finger pointing over Tyler Gaffalione’s decision not to ride Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) in the GI Preakness S. continued Thursday when Gaffalione’s agent Matt Muzikar said trainer Ken McPeek’s version of the events was “nowhere near the truth.”

On this week’s edition of the TDN Writers’ Room podcast, McPeek sharply criticized both Muzikar and Gaffalione, claiming that the two reneged on an agreement to ride the filly in the Preakness.

“I announced that we’re going to run in the Preakness and Tyler was on board,” McPeek said on the podcast. “By maybe 6:00 that night, his agent tells us that he can’t ride. And I’m like, ‘Look, you’ve given us a two-race commitment [GI Kentucky Oaks and Preakness].’ He said, ‘Oh well, sorry, I’ve got to ride for Chad Brown at Keeneland.’ I said, ‘You can’t do this. It’s dishonorable.’ I’ve been doing this for 35 years and I’ve never had something like that happen. I still find it dishonorable. Shame on Tyler Gaffalione and his agent.”

When Muzikar told McPeek his rider would not be accepting the mount in the Preakness, McPeek was left to scramble before lining up Robby Albarado.

About the only thing that Muzikar and McPeek agree upon is that Gaffalione did agree to a two-race commitment. But Muzikar said that after the Oaks McPeek told him Swiss Skydiver would be making her next start in the GI Juddmonte Spinster S., which was run the day after the Preakness.

“Maybe two days after the Kentucky Oaks he called me and said he didn’t know what the second race was going to be, that it was between the Spinster, the Preakness and the [GI] Queen Elizabeth,” Muzikar said. “I told him that I needed to know as soon as possible. We talked again Saturday, nine days before the draw for the Preakness, and he told me she was going in the Spinster.”

Muzikar said that after he was told that Swiss Skydiver was going to run in the Spinster, he started lining up mounts for Gaffalione. He turned down all mounts on the Preakness card and accepted mounts for the weekend races at Keeneland. Gaffalione did not win a race on the Oct. 3 card at Keeneland but had several live horses, including GI First Lady S. favorite Newspaperofrecord (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) and GI Shadwell Turf Mile S. favorite Analyze It (Point of Entry).

Muzikar said that McPeek did not tell him he was going to run in the Preakness until the Saturday before the race, by which time he had already made commitments to Chad Brown, Brendan Walsh and others to ride for them the same day at Keeneland.

“I called him and said, ‘What are you doing?'” Muzikar said. “He said, ‘Matt, we are running in he Preakness. Handle it.’ Then he hung up the phone.”

Muzikar said that it was too late to get out of his commitments at Keeneland.

On the podcast, McPeek said that after Gaffalione worked Swiss Skydiver at Churchill Downs the Saturday before the Preakness he told the trainer how eager he was to ride her in the Triple Crown event.

“Tyler worked her and then Tyler and I came into my office and he said, ‘Oh my God, that’s the best she’s felt all year. Let’s go. Let’s do it.’ I announced we were going to run in the Preakness and Tyler was on board,” he said.

Muzikar said that McPeek reached out to Gaffalione.

“He said that he was going to go on Twitter, that he was going to knock me, that he was going to knock the jockey,” Muzikar said. “He told Tyler he should fire me and force me to take the mount in the Preakness.”

The agent said he was particularly upset that McPeek chose to criticize Gaffalione.

“Tyler had nothing to do with this whole situation, so I don’t like him knocking the jockey,” he said. “Tyler is the greatest kid and the greatest jock I have had in the 26 years I have been doing this. He did nothing to him.”

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