Got Stormy Lands Second Fourstardave Trophy
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Photo: Skip Dickstein
Got Stormy wins the Fourstardave Handicap at Saratoga Race Course
There was something completely fitting about Got Stormy winning the $500,000 Fourstardave Handicap (G1T) at Saratoga Race Course.
As much as The New York Racing Association was spot on for naming a grade 1 stakes after Fourstardave, who famously won at least one race at the Spa from 1987-94, a graded stakes at the Spa for Got Stormy should also be in order one day in the future.
For a third straight year a return to the friendly confines of Saratoga brought out the very best in Got Stormy as she charged to a 1 1/2-length victory for owners MyRaceHorse Stable and Spendthrift Farm in the Aug. 14 Fourstardave to collect a second win in three years over males in the mile grade 1 open turf handicap.
Add in a second in the 2020 Fourstardave and a win in the 2019 Fasig-Tipton De La Rose Stakes prior to her initial Fourstardave win and trainer Mark Casse's 6-year-old mare has a Saratoga résumé that surely paints her as a distaff version of the namesake of Saturday's test.
"He always turned it around here at Saratoga," Spendthrift Farm general manager Ned Toffey said about Richard Bomze's Fourstardave, "and she does the same thing. We were just talking about how much Got Stormy is like him."
If there was a surprise Saturday it came from the win price on the Spa toteboard that checked in at $27, a stunning price considering her affinity for the course and that she has 2,966 owners through MyRaceHorse's sale of microshares in her for $45 each.
"This is what Mr. (B. Wayne Hughes, founder of Spendthrift) challenged us to do, to get into big horses on big days," said MyRaceHorse founder and CEO Michael Behrens, who noted that about 240 MyRaceHorse owners were among the crowd of 36,307 at the Spa. "The social media reaction has been incredible. This is what the vision was when Mr. Hughes got involved with us. He wanted to get us better horses."
Spendthrift bought the daughter of Get Stormy for $2,750,000 last year at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Mixed Sale and then consummated a deal to lease her racing rights to MyRaceHorse, adding to a process with Spendthrift that has also included Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) winner and Horse of the Year Authentic and two-time champion Monomoy Girl . After an initial win following the sale in the Feb. 27 Honey Fox Stakes (G3T), a pair of fifth-place finishes in the Longines Churchill Distaff Turf Mile Stakes (G2T) and the Jackpocket Jaipur Stakes (G1T) clouded the outlook and made her a longshot in Saturday's field of eight.
All it took was a return to Saratoga—and firm turf—to bring back the sunshine and put her in the FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile Presented by PDJF (G1T), thanks to the "Win and You're In" qualifier attached to Saturday's race.
"This was maybe more exciting than (the win in the 2019 Fourstardave) because they wrote her off," Casse said. "They did the same thing to Tepin and she came back. I'm really proud. There have been some bumps along the road with her, but she came through when it was time. She loves it here."
Mark Casse walks Got Stormy and Tyler Gaffalione to the winner's circle
Got Stormy had a dream trip over Saratoga's inner turf course under jockey Tyler Gaffalione as she was third behind the pacesetting Blowout , one of three mares in the race, and Whisper Not through fractions of :23.45 and :46.69. Leaving the quarter pole, as they tired and even-money favorite Raging Bull failed to fire, Got Stormy surged to the lead in mid-stretch and increased her margin in the final eighth of a mile, covering the distance in 1:33.09.
On a day when the Spa posted an all-sources handle of $32.2 million, the time was a little more than a second behind Got Stormy's course record time of 1:32 set in the 2019 Fourstardave.
"When I put her outside, she unleashed a big run and it was all over from there," Gaffalione said.
Juddmonte's Set Piece rallied from last to take second by a half-length over Casa Creed .
"It's tough to win with his style on this inner course, but I'm super pleased with the effort," trainer Brad Cox said about Set Piece, a homebred Dansili gelding who was the 4-1 second choice. "He showed up and proved he belongs with the top grade 1 milers in the country."
Grade 1 winner Casa Creed, a son of Jimmy Creed , was trying to give owners LRE Racing and JEH Racing Stable back-to-back stakes wins after taking the Saratoga Special Stakes Presented by Miller Lite (G2) with High Oak .
For Got Stormy, it was her 12th win in 30 starts and pushed her career earnings to $2,398,403. Bred by Mt. Joy Stables, Pope McLean, Marc McLean and Pope McLean Jr. out of the Malabar Gold mare Super Phoebe, she is the lone stakes winner from eight foals to race by her dam, whose youngest offspring is a yearling Bolt d'Oro colt.
Got Stormy's connections gather in the winner’s circle
While Casse had considered the Kentucky Downs Ladies Sprint Stakes (G3T) for Got Stormy's next race before Saturday's win, he's now uncertain of how he'll prepare for the Mile.
He has a much better idea of where he would love to be next August.
"For her to come and do this three years in a row," Casse said, "maybe we can do another one. We'll have to talk to the higher-ups."