Getting to Know Trade Storm

Trade Storm winning the Woodbine Mile Stakes on Sept. 14. (Photo by Eclipse Sportswire)
Based in England, Trade Storm blew into Woodbine looking for revenge in the Woodbine Mile Stakes and left with a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Mile.
The 6-year-old horse finished third in last year’s edition of the Woodbine Mile but took the win back to England this year. However, there is more to this horse than just his performances in Canada, so lets get to know Trade Storm a bit better as he prepares for this years’ Breeders’ Cup.
Race Résumé
Trade Storm won his third start as a 2-year-old to earn his first victory but it wasn’t until late in his 4-year-old year that he started really showing elite talent.
After a third-from-last place finish in the 30-horse, one-mile Royal Hunt Cup at Royal Ascot in June 2012, Trade Storm hit the board in five of his next six starts. During the streak, Trade Storm became an international traveler when he shipped to Dubai for Meydan’s spring carnival.
While Trade Storm had made a big bump at home in his form since that poor performance at Royal Ascot, he seemed to make an even bigger improvement at Meydan.
After a disappointing first race at the track, his first run of the year, Trade Storm won two straight Dubai races by a combined margin 5 ¼ lengths. That streak included Trade Storm’s first ever win in a group race when he was victorious in the Group 2 Zabeel Mile, a race he used as a prep for the Dubai Duty Free, where he finished fourth behind Sajjhaa.
Trade Storm subsequently hit the board five times after the Zabeel Mile win, but he couldn’t find the winner’s circle until this year’s Woodbine Mile.
Since we are focusing on Trade Storm’s potential in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, it should be noted that since his improvement after the 2012 Royal Ascot meet Trade Storm run 11 times at a mile. Three of those races were wins, two were seconds, and one was a third with only one finish worse than fifth at the distance during that time frame.
Outside of this year’s edition of the Woodbine Mile, Trade Storm has only raced in North America once before. That came last year in the Woodbine Mile when he finished third behind Wise Dan, who set a course record in the race, and Za Approval, both horses he most likely will face in the Breeders’ Cup Mile.
Two things trainer David Simcock says the horse prefers are fast ground and a solid pace, both of which he should get in California. On the pace front, the “Win and You’re In” status of the Shoemaker Mile assured Obviously a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Mile. In the past two editions of the race, Obviously has set the pace in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, setting healthy fractions that definitely would benefit Trade Storm’s pace preference.
“He’ll get his fast ground, which suits a fairly strong pace,” Simcock said about the Breeders’ Cup Mile. “It will probably be a tougher race, but he is in excellent order and he never disgraces himself. When there’s a lot of pace into the race, he travels very strongly into it and he’s got a nice pick up. All he needed [in the Woodbine Mile] was the gaps and he maneuvered his way through.”
TRADE STORM (inside) PREAVILED IN THE WOODBINE MILE

Photo by Michael Burns/WEG
While Trade Storm will be coming into the Breeders’ Cup with the win in the Woodbine Mile, he is one that I might pick to hit the board due to his consistent nature. However, I don’t have faith that he’ll be able to beat Wise Dan when they match up at Santa Anita on Nov. 1.
Pedigree
Trade Storm is by Australia-based stallion Trade Fair and out of the Slip Anchor mare Frisson.
Trade Fair won five of his 15 career starts with all but two of his races coming at seven furlongs or less. The stallion never succeeded in winning a Group 1 race, however he did score two Group 3 victories during his racing career. His only attempts at a mile came in America where he finished fifth in the Maker’s Mark Mile at Keeneland, which turned out to be his last start, and in the Group 1 Sussex Stakes, in which he finished sixth. 
From Trade Fair’s six crops to race, he has seven stakes winners and one champion.
Trade Storm’s dam, Frisson, was unraced, however she produced three winners from 10 foals to race. Frisson’s second best foal after Trade Storm was Wanchai Lad, who was a sprinter to the core, never racing beyond seven furlongs and the third winner produced by Frisson posted victories at eight and nine furlongs.
Trade Storm’s second dam, Comic Talent, won five of her seven races with those wins coming from seven to nine furlongs. She was a stakes winner at Sandown Racecourse, where she won the 1989 Saxone Fillies Stakes at a mile, bringing Trade Storm some extra class in his pedigree for the distance.
Trade Storm has proven that he likes the distance of the Breeders’ Cup Mile and he will have the pace and ground that he needs to do well in the race. But he needs to take another step forward have a chance to win in what is expected to be one of the top fields we’ll see at the Breeders’ Cup.
WOODBINE MILE STAKES