MyRacehorse and Spendthrift Farm's Got Stormy (Get Stormy), the only female winner of the GI Fourstardave H. when she won the race two years ago in stakes record time, found her best form Saturday to post a 12-1 upset in this year's running of the “Win and You're In” qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Mile.
Purchased off a fifth-place finish in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint by B. Wayne Hughes's Spendthrift Farm for $2.75 million at last year's Fasig-Tipton November Sale and then offered in microshare pieces via MyRacehorse, the chestnut remained with trainer Mark Casse and scored first out for the new connections in the GIII Honey Fox S. at Gulfstream in February. Her next two outings were not as strong, however–she was fifth in both the GII Distaff Turf Mile S. at Churchill May 1 and GI Jaipur S. on the cutback at Belmont June 5–and was starting to give the impression of one whose best racing days were behind her.
Away well under Tyler Gaffalione, Got Stormy sat comfortably in third as they strung out around the first turn behind fellow female Blowout (GB) (Dansili {GB}). The frontrunner doled out splits of :23.45, :46.69 and 1:10.12 with little change in the running order, and they fanned across the track into the lane with Got Stormy continuing to go well and Blowout's favored stablemate Raging Bull (Fr) (Dark Angel {Ire}) trying to rev up from the back. Got Stormy kicked past Blowout with little resistance in midstretch, and kept on going under energetic encouragement to prevail by 1 1/2 lengths. Set Piece (GB) (Dansili {GB}) rallied from last to complete the exacta, while Jaipur winner Casa Creed (Jimmy Creed) was third. Blowout held on for fourth, but Raging Bull never fired and checked in sixth.
“She was taking me the whole way,” Gaffalione said. “I was able to tuck in and save ground. She relaxed beautifully down the backside. Going into the turn she started to pick up on her own and she started creeping up. When I put her outside, she unleashed a big run and it was all over from there.”
He added, “Watching the races, the best ground has been inside on the turf, so I figured that was the best place to be. I was able to get there comfortably and it all worked out.”
Carrying the silks of Gary Barber in her previous Fourstardave win, and when second last year, Got Stormy shortened up to take the GIII Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf Sprint last September and added the GIII Buffalo Trace Franklin County S. at Keeneland in October before running back in the Breeders' Cup over the same course and distance.
She was one of 12 purchases totaling $25,030,000 and also including $9.5-million topper and champion Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) made by Spendthrift at Fasig-Tipton last November.
“This was maybe even more exciting [than winning the 2019 Fourstardave] because they wrote her off,” said Casse, fresh off his Hall of Fame induction last week. “They did the same to [two-time champion] Tepin (Bernstein), and she came back. I'm really proud. There's been some bumps along the road with her, but she came when it was time.”
While Casse had opted to shorten Got Stormy at times for what he thought were better configurations for her, he believes the sharper turns at Saratoga–and at Del Mar later this year–are to her liking.
“It's what she loves; they'll have some sharp turns at Del Mar [in the Breeders' Cup Mile], so that'll work out just fine,” he said. “You could see how well she was training. She loves it here. She trains great here.”
The hard-knocking mare was a fitting winner of the race named after the ageless “Sultan of Saratoga.”
“I think for Fourstardave, who ran so many times here year-after-year, for her to come and do this three years in a row…maybe we can do another one,” Casse said. “We'll have to talk to the higher ups.”
Saturday, Saratoga
FOURSTARDAVE H.-GI, $500,000, Saratoga, 8-14, 3yo/up, 1mT, 1:33.09, fm.
1–GOT STORMY, 116, m, 6, 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; $2,750,000
5yo '20 FTKNOV). O-My Racehorse Stable & Spendthrift Farm
LLC; B-Mt. Joy Stables, Pope, Pope Jr. & Marc McLean (KY);
T-Mark E. Casse; J-Tyler Gaffalione. $275,000. Lifetime Record:
30-12-5-3, $2,398,403. *1/2 to Sir Alfred James (Munnings),
MSP, $210,980; 1/2 to Sky Gold (Successful Appeal), SP,
$151,020. Werk Nick Rating: A.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Set Piece (GB), 119, g, 5, Dansili (GB)–Portodora, by
Kingmambo. O-Juddmonte; B-Juddmonte Farms (East) Ltd
(GB); T-Brad H. Cox. $100,000.
3–Casa Creed, 120, h, 5, Jimmy Creed–Achalaya, by Bellamy
Road. ($15,000 Ylg '17 OBSWIN; $105,000 Ylg '17 KEESEP).
O-LRE Racing LLC & JEH Racing Stable LLC; B-Silver Springs
Stud, LLC (KY); T-William I. Mott. $60,000.
Margins: 1HF, HF, NK. Odds: 12.50, 4.10, 6.20.
Also Ran: Blowout (GB), Daddy Is a Legend, Raging Bull (Fr), Whisper Not (GB), Field Pass. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
Pedigree Notes:
MGISW sire Get Stormy boasted four wins himself at the Spa, including in the 2010 Fourstardave. He is the sire of 10 stakes winners, six graded, with Got Stormy his only highest-level victoress. Dam Super Phoebe, a nine-time winner in Puerto Rico, is half to GSWs Smooth Air (Smooth Jazz) and Overdriven (Tale of the Cat). Her Mohaymen 2-year-old colt now named Mohegan was a $315,000 purchase by Tradewinds Farm at last year's Fasig-Tipton October sale. Super Phoebe has a yearling colt by Bolt d'Oro, and was barren to Uncle Mo for 2021 before being bred to Nyquist this past season.
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