Connections Celebrate Championship for Storm the Court
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Photo: Skip Dickstein
The Runhappy Del Mar Futurity (G1) played a major role in determining the 2019 2-year-old male championship, but not in the normal way.
Eight Rings, the odds-on favorite, ducked in sharply shortly after the start, bumping Storm the Court. Both horses lost their riders. The incident could have ended their 2-year-old seasons, but each returned to win a grade 1 event.
Storm the Court, a son of Court Vision —My Tejana Storm, by Tejano Run, bred in Kentucky by Jim Power's Stepping Stone Farm, was a $60,000 2-year-old auction purchase and had only a maiden victory prior to the Futurity. He had worked so well for trainer Peter Eurton before his debut, however, that his owners spent $12,000 to make him eligible to the Breeders' Cup.
A few weeks after that $12,000 payment, Storm the Court debuted at Del Mar for owners Exline-Border Racing, Dan Hudock, and Susanna Wilson. He battled with 1-5 favorite Garth, took the lead, lost it, and then regained it to win by 1 1/2 lengths.
"He is so mentally tough, as he proved in his debut," said Justin Border. "He won just staring that other horse in the eye."
Border and Ryan Exline have been here before. They had a piece of Eurton-trained Champagne Room, champion 2-year-old filly in 2016.
This time they are the majority owners. They have brought friends and family into the Storm the Court partnership under the Exline-Border Racing name, including Exline's father, Rick, and one of Ryan's brothers, Kyle. Exline said that David Bernsen, co-owner of two-time Eclipse champion sprinter Roy H, bought into Storm the Court after his maiden victory.
Exline and Border thrive on having partners.
"It has provided us with an opportunity to have far more horses than we could have on our own," said Exline.
Following the Del Mar Futurity, Eurton took his time with Storm the Court, who responded well and finished third behind Eight Rings and American Theorem in the Sept. 27 American Pharoah Stakes (G1).
Storm the Court and his connections after the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita Park
The owners and the trainer decided to step up to the Nov. 1 TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1), and the gamble paid off. Storm the Court, ridden by Flavien Prat, shocked the crowd at 45-1 to defeat fellow longshot Anneau d'Or by a head. Thus did the colt who had overcome so much grab a championship and position himself for a run at this year's Triple Crown events.