Stormy Atlantic Gets 100th Black-Type Winner

Hill 'n' Dale Farms' Stormy Atlantic   got his 100th black-type stakes winner when Stormy Liberal took the Clocker's Corner Stakes at Jan. 29 at Santa Anita Park. 

The 6 1/2-furlong race on the downhill turf course was the first stakes victory for the 5-year-old gelding out of the winning Royal Academy daughter Vassar. Stormy Liberal was bred in Kentucky by Dapple Bloodstock & Gryphon Investments and is now owned by Rockingham Ranch. 

Stormy Liberal is the second stakes winner and fourth black-type performer produced by Vassar. Her other top foals include stakes winner Shimmering Moment (by Afleet Alex  ), grade 1-placed winner and sire Coast Guard (Stormy Atlantic), and stakes-placed winner Garifine (Belong to Me).

Stormy Atlantic is also the broodmare sire of grade 1-placed Blameitonthelaw, who finished third behind Stormy Liberal. Blameitonthelaw is the second black-type horse produced by stakes winner Letter of the Law, whose other top foal is stakes winner Bourbon Sense (Street Sense  ).

Bred and raced by Arthur Appleton, Florida-bred Stormy Atlantic is a son of Storm Cat out of the grade 1 winner Hail Atlantis (Seattle Slew). Appleton bought Hail Atlantis, winner of the 1990 Santa Anita Oaks (G1), for $650,000 out of the 1993 Keeneland November breeding stock sale from Eaton-Williams, agent for Wooden Horse Investments. 

Stormy Atlantic became Hail Atlantis' first stakes winner when he won the 1998 Havre de Grace Stakes at Pimlico Race Course. Out of 15 starts, he would win six times, including another stakes win in the Damitrius Stakes at Delaware Park, and place three times. He retired with $148,126 in earnings. 

Stormy Atlantic entered stud at Appleton's Bridlewood Farm near Ocala in 1999, and his first crop came out running. He ranked among the top 10 by earnings in a strong 2002 freshman sire class that included Distorted Humor  , Awesome Again  , Elusive Quality  , and Tale of the Cat  . Stormy Atlantic was the co-fourth-leading first-crop sire by stakes winners with three. At the 2002 Barretts select 2-year-olds in training sale, his daughter Atlantic Ocean topped the sale at $1.9 million and went on to become a multiple grade 3 winner for The Thoroughbred Corp.

John Sikura, owner of Hill 'n' Dales Farms near Lexington bought a minority interest in Stormy Atlantic in 2002 and syndicated the stallion, with Bridlewood retaining a majority ownership. The stallion was moved to Hill 'n' Dale in 2003 where he is today and stands for $15,000.

"This is a horse that did it the hard way," said Sikura. "The only thing missing from him being considered one of the elite sires is a few more grade 1 winners, but he's gotten champions and has been the leading sire of 2-year-olds. He is a very versatile horse as well, gettting winners on dirt and turf. I believe he will be a significant broodmare sire."

To date, Stormy Atlantic has sired 39 graded/group stakes winners and six champions, including 2013 Canadian Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old colt Up With the Birds, 2014 Canadian champion 2-year-old colt Conquest Typhoon, 2011 Canadian champion 2-year-old Maritimer, 2006 Canadian champion 2-year-old colt Leonnatus Anteas, and Puerto Rican champion 3-year-old Storm Allied.

"We're so proud to have a horse in the barn with 100 black-type stakes winners. It is a major achievement," Sikura said.