Outlook is Bright for Got Stormy in Matriarch

A weekend of seven graded races at Del Mar is punctuated Dec. 1 by the $300,000 Matriarch Stakes (G1T), where TVG Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T) runner-up Got Stormy faces Toinette, Significant Form, Juliet Foxtrot, and others as part of the track's closing-day fall program.

A victory would cap a year of excellence for 4-year-old Got Stormy and likely make her a finalist for the Eclipse Award as outstanding turf female of 2019—if she is not already on the shortlist. A grade 1 winner this year—beating the boys in the Fourstardave Handicap (G1T) at Saratoga Race Course—she has hit the board in three other grade 1 races.

That included the Breeders' Cup Mile and the Ricoh Woodbine Mile Stakes (G1T), races in which she advanced from stalking positions to take the lead in midstretch, only to be outkicked in the final furlong to settle for second. She lost the Woodbine Mile by a half-length to El Tormenta and the Breeders' Cup Mile by 1 1/2 lengths to Uni.

Video: TVG Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T)

None of her 10 rivals in the 1-mile Matriarch appear as classy as Uni, considered one of the top contenders for the Eclipse Award along with Sistercharlie.

Months before their Breeders' Cup Mile meeting, the Mark Casse-trained Got Stormy beat Uni in the Aug. 10 Fourstardave. That came after she won the Aug. 3 Fasig-Tipton De La Rose Stakes at Saratoga.

"She's been solid all year," assistant trainer Shane Tripp said. "What she did at Saratoga, winning two stakes a week apart, kind of speaks for itself. She shows up every time."

Tyler Gaffalione, her rider in six of seven starts this year, will ride Got Stormy, a daughter of Get Stormy  with earnings of more than $1.25 million from 17 starts. Nearly $960,000 of that has come this year for owner Gary Barber.

Trainer Chad Brown has a major player with Stephanie Seymour Brant's Significant Form. A winner of five stakes—four graded—she enters the Matriarch with two consecutive stakes wins in New York.

The 4-year-old daughter of Creative Cause  narrowly prevailed in the Woodford Reserve Ballston Spa Stakes (G2T) Aug. 24 at Saratoga before recording one of her fastest victories in the Noble Damsel Stakes (G3T) by 2 3/4 lengths Sept. 21 at Belmont Park, a race in which she ran a mile in 1:33.48.

Video: Noble Damsel S. (G3T)

Brown has won the Matriarch the past two years, first in 2017 with Off Limits and then last year with Uni.

Hall of Famer John Velazquez, aboard for Significant Form's wins in the Ballston Spa and Noble Damsel, will travel from the East Coast for the ride on the filly, who finished fourth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T) in 2017 in her only start at Del Mar.

Toinette—7-for-7 in turf races at 1 1/16 miles or shorter—tops the California contingent. She won the Goldikova Stakes (G2T) at Santa Anita Park Nov. 3, one of three wins from four starts this year.

Juliet Foxtrot, second in the John C. Mabee Stakes (G2T) and First Lady Stakes Presented by UK Healthcare (G1T) in two starts since winning the Modesty Handicap (G3T), adds further depth of talent.

Storm the Hill, Mucho Unusual, Simply Breathless, and Daddy Is a Legend are the other graded stakes winners in the Matriarch cast.

Entries: Matriarch S. (G1T)

Del Mar, Sunday, December 01, 2019, Race 7

• Grade IT
• 1m
• Turf
• $300,000
• 3 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 3:03 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Storm the Hill (KY)	Rafael Bejarano	123	Philip D'Amato	20/1
2	2Lakerball (CA)	Evin A. Roman	120	Doug F. O'Neill	30/1
3	3Significant Form (KY)	John R. Velazquez	123	Chad C. Brown	9/2
4	4Mucho Unusual (CA)	Abel Cedillo	120	Tim Yakteen	15/1
5	5Toinette (KY)	Flavien Prat	123	Neil D. Drysdale	7/2
6	6Simply Breathless (GB)	Drayden Van Dyke	123	Neil D. Drysdale	15/1
7	7Got Stormy (KY)	Tyler Gaffalione	123	Mark E. Casse	5/2
8	8Painting Corners (FL)	Paco Lopez	123	Peter Miller	30/1
9	9Daddy Is a Legend (PA)	Manuel Franco	123	George Weaver	8/1
10	10Giza Goddess (KY)	Brice Blanc	120	John A. Shirreffs	20/1
11	11Juliet Foxtrot (GB)	Florent Geroux	123	Brad H. Cox	3/1