Got Stormy, Zofelle Set for Distaff Turf Mile Rematch

Just a nose separated them on the line in their last meeting. Now two of the country's pluckiest turf mares are set for a rematch May 1 in the $500,000 Longines Churchill Distaff Turf Mile (G2T) at Churchill Downs.

For multiple grade 1 winner Got Stormy , the race on the Kentucky Derby Day undercard would be another step in the right direction after starting her 2021 campaign for new owners Spendthrift Farm and MyRacehorse.com with a victory in the Feb. 27 Honey Fox Stakes (G3T) at Gulfstream Park. For Zofelle , who came flying in that mile event but just missed the score, it's a chance at a grade 2 victory after earning her first graded win one start prior in Gulfstream's Jan. 23 Marshua's River Stakes (G3T).

But first, the forecast. For a horse named Got Stormy, the 6-year-old Get Stormy   mare has less fondness for soft going than one would anticipate, and with rain expected Wednesday and Thursday in the Louisville area, Mark Casse anticipates a game day decision on whether his trainee will run.  

"I'll have to talk it over with Spendthrift and MyRacehorse," Casse said April 27. "She can handle the soft turf, it's not that, it just limits how far she can run. I think on a really firm turf, a mile is her max."

Churchill Downs is racing with a temporary rail on the turf course in Lane 3, 22 feet from the inside hedge, through Thursday. The rail will be taken down for racing on Kentucky Oaks Day and Kentucky Derby Day. 

"The inside is going to be unused so it might be fine," Casse said. "Probably won't make that final decision until the day of the race."

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?

"She's doing great," Casse reported of Got Stormy. "She loves Churchill. I thought her first race back was very good. It was great for her. She usually needs a race to start a new year."

Winner of the 2019 Fourstardave Handicap (G1T) and Matriarch Stakes (G1T) and runner-up in that year's TVG Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T), Got Stormy would be in pursuit of her first win at Churchill in her third start there. She was runner-up in the 2019 edition of the Distaff Turf Mile by 1 1/4 lengths to Beau Recall , and finished fourth in the 2018 Edgewood Stakes Presented by Forcht Bank (G3T).  

Where Zofelle is concerned, a recent breeze over a course with some cut in it gives trainer Brendan Walsh the confidence to push on even if the course comes up soft on Saturday.

"She worked really nice on the turf here Sunday morning," Walsh said of a four-furlong move April 25 in :49 3/5 at Churchill. "There was a little cut in the ground, and she didn't seem to mind it too much. She finished up really good on Sunday. In 2019 she won the Pago Hop Stakes on yielding turf at Fair Grounds, and the first time she ran for us at Keenleand there was cut in the ground, too, so I don't think it's going to inconvenience us too much."

Zofelle, a 5-year-old daughter of Zoffany  bred in Ireland, races for Heider Family Stables. She is set to break from post 4 under Irad Ortiz Jr., while Got Stormy drew post 5 under regular rider Tyler Gaffalione.

"She puts out her 'A' effort every time," Walsh said. "I think she's a little better this year. We gave her a break and turned her out after her form tailed off at the end of the season, and I couldn't believe how good she came back. She's in great order going in, so we're hoping we get a nice trip and a decent pace."

Trainer Chad Brown has a dangerous duo in grade 1-placed stakes-winning Blowout  for Peter Brant, along with John and Tanya Gunther's stakes-winning She's Got You , both set to fire fresh off the bench.

Blowout, a 5-year-old daughter of Dansili , missed by a nose to stablemate Viadera  in the Nov. 29 Matriarch at Del Mar to cap a bridesmaid season that saw her finish second in the Noble Damsel Stakes (G3T) and allowance company. In 2019 she missed the Pin Oak Valley View Stakes (G3T) at Keeneland after taking the Pebbles Stakes at Belmont Park. She has never finished worse than the single third she ran in the 2019 Lake Placid Stakes (G2T), and has runner-up finishes in the Lake George Stakes (G3T) and Florida Oaks (G3T) to her credit.  

Making just her fourth stateside start in search of her first graded win is She's Got You, a 5-year-old Kingman  homebred from Great Britain. Her last start was a third in the 2020 Athenia Stakes (G3T) going 1 1/16 miles last October at Belmont after a win in the Violet Stakes in September at Monmouth Park.  

R Unicorn Stable's New York Girl  comes in off a third in the March 6 Hillsborough Stakes (G2T) at Tampa Bay Downs in pursuit of her first stateside graded score. The Bill Mott trainee was a group 3 winner at The Curragh and ran off the board four times in group 1 company in Ireland. She was then imported to the U.S., where she won a Gulfstream allowance optional claiming at the end of 2020 before starting her 2021 campaign with a runner-up finish in the Lambholm South Endeavour Stakes (G3T) at Tampa Bay en route to her Hillsborough bid.

Apogee Racing's 2019 Natalma Stakes (G1T) winner Abscond  looks to return to winning ways for trainer Eddie Kenneally; she has not won since that score, but finished second twice and third twice in four starts after running seventh in the 2019 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T) at Santa Anita Park.

Rounding out the field is Three Diamonds Farm and trainer Mike Maker's black-type winner Jakarta , who was fourth in the Honey Fox and third in the April 10 Giant's Causeway Stakes going 5 /12 furlongs at Keeneland in her last start.

Entries: Longines Churchill Distaff Turf Mile S. (G2T)

Churchill Downs, Saturday, May 01, 2021, Race 6

• Grade IIT
• 1m
• Turf
• $500,000
• 4 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 1:14 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Jakarta (PA)	Luis Saez	118	Michael J. Maker	10/1
2	2She's Got You (GB)	Javier Castellano	118	Chad C. Brown	10/1
3	3New York Girl (IRE)	John R. Velazquez	118	William I. Mott	8/1
4	4Zofelle (IRE)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	118	Brendan P. Walsh	2/1
5	5Got Stormy (KY)	Tyler Gaffalione	118	Mark E. Casse	8/5
6	6Blowout (GB)	Flavien Prat	118	Chad C. Brown	7/2
7	7Abscond (KY)	Joel Rosario	118	Eddie Kenneally	15/1