CHURCHILL SWEEP OF FEATURE RACES
The winners of the feature races on May 20-21
were brought to you by Storm Boot. CHANGING WEATHER
may have foretold his connections Preakness victory in winning
the Listed Matt Winn Stakes for Darley. Among the
vanquished were undefeated multiple stakes winner HE'S GOT
GRIT. Final time for six furlongs was 1:09 4/5.
Sunday's feature was a $68,000 allowance on the
turf. Multiple stakes winner VERY VEGAS showed her
Mamzelle Stakes was no fluke, scoring gate-to-wire in the five
furlong event. Final time was :56.20 and moved her
earnings near $500,000.
TIGER IN THE TANK
Saturday, May 13, Belmont
Park. TIGER, a 5-year-old son of Storm Boot made
his stakes debut a winning one, defeating Grade I winner BISHOP'S
COURT HILL in his favorite time (he previously won an
allowance, Beyer 111) in 1:08 2/5. Get all the details at bloodhorse.com
BIG TWO WEEKS FOR STORM BOOT 2-YEAR-OLDS
Foals of 2003 have won or placed
in Maiden Special Weight company from upstate New York to
British Columbia in the last 14 days through August 27. Buenisima
started the ball rolling by winning at Hastings Park and
following up two weeks later with a second in the Lassie Handicap.
On Aug 21 Bootery won second time out for Carl Nafzger at
Ellis. On Aug 24 Via Rodeo missed by just a neck going a
mile on turf at Del Mar. The Chris Paasch-trainee has
placed twice in four starts.
The next day at Saratoga saw the
debut of Changing Weather. Debuting with a work tab
riddled with more bullets than the side of Bonnie & Clyde's
car, this Darley Stable $260,000 OBS March Sale graduate
justified his 8-5 tote status. Despite leading through a
torrid opening quarter of :21 3/5 he had enough left in the tank
to shake off a challenge at the top of the stretch, extending
the margin to 3¾ at the line. Final time of :57 3/5 was
the fastest five furlongs for a two-year-old at the meet.
The next day at the Spa saw the
debut of Storm Treasure, a $170,000 Keeneland September
yearling. Jerry Bailey took the call for the Steve
Asmussen pupil which showed a steady work tab going back to
early June. Not breaking as sharply as Changing Weather,
Bailey still managed to emerge from the second flight to stalk
the leaders from third. He was no match for the winner
(the only colt in the race with prior race experience) but held
the closers safe to finish second.
Gumboots completed the fortnight
with a winning debut at Woodbine. The Eaton Hall Farm
homebred completed six furlongs in 1:10.80 and one would think
she would be seen in a Canadian-bred stakes soon. Her time
in open company compared quite favorably to Canadian-bred males
that ran 1:05.22 for 5½ furlongs later on the card.
STORM'S DARLING
LOVES LOUISIANA (and Kentucky, too)
After two stakes wins and a 106
Beyer in Louisiana, Storm’s Darling took on Grade II stakes
competition at Churchill Downs. She finished second in the
Fleur de Lis Handicap and third Louisville Breeders’ Cup on
Oaks Day. In those two races she defeated Grade I winners
Shadow Cast, Star Parade (Arg) and Island Sand; and Grade II
winners Two Trail Sioux, and La Reason.
