Storm the Court Faces Late-Season Eclipse Bids

Although TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) winner Storm the Court is finished running this year at age 2, he remains entrenched in another race—the one for a year-end championship.

After his Juvenile victory at Santa Anita Park Nov. 1 at odds of 45-1, Storm the Court is the frontrunner to win the Eclipse Award as champion juvenile male, but he is not a certainty because he lacks another stakes victory in his four-start season. In years when an upset occurred in the Juvenile, Eclipse Award voters have at times chosen to back others.

Though the last four Breeders' Cup Juvenile winners have been crowned champions—Game Winner (2018), Good Magic  (2017), Classic Empire  (2016) and Nyquist  (2015)—two juvenile males this decade, American Pharoah  (2014) and Shared Belief (2013), narrowly secured more Eclipse Award support than their Juvenile-winning counterparts.

In Eclipse voting from those years—compiled from representatives of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Equibase, Daily Racing Form, and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters—American Pharoah outpolled 2014 Juvenile winner Texas Red  126-111, and Shared Belief edged 2013 Juvenile winner New Year's Day by a 115-99 margin. 

Those two Eclipse Award winners never raced in the Breeders' Cup. American Pharoah, the eventual Triple Crown and Breeder's Cup Classic (G1) winner of 2015, had a setback that prematurely ended his 2-year-old season after winning the Frontrunner Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita over Texas Red and six other runners in late September. Shared Belief, meanwhile, burst on the scene too late in his 2-year-old year to start in the Breeders' Cup, but he caught the attention of voters with a 3-for-3 late-season record that included clear victories in the 2013 Hollywood Preview Stakes (G3) and CashCall Futurity (G1).

One of Storm the Court's leading Eclipse rivals, Sackatoga Stable's Tiz the Law, is also aiming to go 3-for-3, a season set to culminate in the $300,000 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs Nov. 30. He will face a mid-level graded stakes field expected by Churchill officials to include American Butterfly, Enforceable, Fighting Seabee, Mr. Tip, Sir Winsalot, South Bend, and others.

Tiz the Law first romped in an Aug. 8 debut at Saratoga Race Course going 6 1/2 furlongs and then won the Oct. 5 Champagne Stakes (G1) at a mile by four lengths at Belmont Park. 

The son of Constitution  became one of just six 2-year-old colts to win grade 1 races this year on dirt, joining Storm the Court, Eight Rings, Maxfield, Basin, and Nucky. A follow-up victory, even one within the grade 2 ranks, would bolster his accomplishments.

Video: Champagne S. (G1)

That is, if voters do not balk at awarding a championship to a horse whose connections intentionally bypassed the Breeders' Cup. That decision was made to not overdo his 2-year-old year, leaving him ready for next spring's races leading up to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) at Churchill Downs.

"I think if he came back and won this race back there in Kentucky, you'd have to think seriously about giving him the championship," said Tiz the Law's trainer, Barclay Tagg. "I'm not going to try to do anything crazy to get there. I'll just take it one race at a time and see what everybody else does."

The connections of Tiz the Law have Storm the Court somewhat to thank for their colt even being in the Eclipse conversation. If a more established 2-year-old had won the Juvenile, particularly one of the hyped runners who entered the race, the championship likely would already be settled.

But a chaotic result, which included favored Dennis' Moment stumbling at the start and never threatening and second choice Eight Rings fading to sixth, left the Eclipse picture murky.

Regardless of the results of the Kentucky Jockey Club and other 2-year-old races contested over the remainder of 2019, the championship remains clear to Peter Eurton, trainer of Storm the Court. He said his colt has "absolutely" done enough to be awarded an Eclipse Award, noting misfortune that befell his horse this summer in the Runhappy Del Mar Futurity (G1) Sept. 2 in one of his two losses.

That afternoon in the second start of his career, following a maiden score Aug. 10, Storm the Court unseated jockey Flavien Prat in the opening 100 yards of the race after Eight Rings ducked toward him, dislodging Drayden Van Dyke. Both horses ran loose without riders and were uninjured.

Eurton said the incident set back Storm the Court in seasoning for the American Pharoah Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita Sept. 27, in which he was third behind Eight Rings.

"His numbers are improving all the time," he said. "He has only had one poor race when he lost his rider. Everything else is pretty respectable. He's young, he's green, he's still learning, and he's growing."

Storm the Court is also becoming more professional. With blinkers added for the Juvenile, he displayed more speed and gamely turned back runner-up Anneau d'Or when he loomed alongside down the stretch. His winning time, 1 1/16 miles in 1:44.93, was more than 2 seconds faster than the 1:47.07 clocking by British Idiom in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1).

Video: TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1)

Storm the Court is the only millionaire among 2-year-olds in North America this year. The son of Court Vision  has earnings of more than $1.1 million for owners Exline-Border Racing, David Bernsen, Susanna Wilson, and Dan Hudock.

History suggests the odds of him winning the championship are high. Twenty-seven times in the previous 35 editions of the Juvenile, its winner was awarded an Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old male.

Besides American Pharoah and Shared Belief, the only non-Juvenile winners to secure titles were Lookin At Lucky  (2009), Declan's Moon (2004), Maria's Mon (1995), Dehere (1993), Easy Goer (1988), and Forty Niner (1987).

On Dec. 7, other leading 2-year-old colts have an opportunity to garner Eclipse support in the $250,000 Remsen Stakes (G2) at Aqueduct and the $200,000 Los Alamitos Futurity (G2), a race under consideration for Eight Rings and other top California prospects.

Tiz the Law and Independence Hall, runaway winner of the Nashua Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct Nov. 3, are among the early favorites in future wagering for the Derby with bookmakers in Nevada and overseas. Churchill Downs conducts its first Kentucky Derby Future Wager in a pari-mutuel format Nov. 28-Dec. 1.