Get Stormy leads all the way in GP Turf

Fellow stalker Hollinger took up the baton and challenged in earnest at the

top of the stretch, but Get Stormy kept finding more, and was still a length on

top through a mile in 1:40 1/5. Hollinger never relented, though. Whittling away

the deficit late, he came up a half-length short at the wire.

"I was really pleased with how well he relaxed, especially off the layoff,"

Dominguez said. "He settled into a great stride and handled the ground

beautifully. When I called on him he just kept going. He got a little tired late

but it was still enough to get the job done."

"It was not a surprise," Bush said. "He's a special horse and got a special

ride today. I was not concerned about the ground at all. He showed from early in

his career he handles soft ground." 

Get Stormy negotiated nine grassy furlongs in 1:52 3/5 and returned $7.20,

$5.20 and $3. Hollinger was a clear second by two lengths from Big Blue Kitten,

who closed belatedly for third.

Yummy with Butter reported home fourth. His rider Paco Lopez claimed foul

against the winner for causing interference in the opening strides, but the

stewards allowed the result to stand. Kindergarden Kid, Yankee Fourtune and

Silver Medallion completed the order of finish.

Todd Pletcher, Silver Medallion's trainer, believed that the course condition

told against the favorite.

"Even though he was in good position, I was kind of concerned because it

looked like he was off the bridle and through those kind of fractions normally

he'd be tugging along a little bit," Pletcher said. "The turf was a little too

soft for him today. We'll regroup and come up with a game plan." 

There were several scratches -- Boisterous, Smart Bid, Al Khali and main

track-only entrant Sangaree. Smart Bid, who just missed in last year's

Gulfstream Park Turf, was withdrawn because of the going, trainer Graham Motion

tweeted. Sangaree and Al Khali both ran one race earlier in the Grade 1 Donn

Handicap on the main track, where they wound up ninth and 10th, respectively.

Get Stormy's scorecard now stands at 27-11-4-3, $1,496,197, reflecting a

total of nine stakes wins and four stakes placings. At three in 2009, he

captured a pair of Grade 3s in the Bryan Station and Commonwealth Turf, as well

as the Lure Stakes at Saratoga. Get Stormy added the Grade 2 Bernard Baruch

Handicap and Grade 2 Fourstardave Handicap, along with the Elkwood Stakes at

Monmouth, in 2010.

Last spring, he turned a quick Grade 1 double in the Maker's Mark Mile and

Woodford Reserve Turf Classic. Runner-up to three-time Eclipse Award winner Gio

Ponti in the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile, Get Stormy was also second as the

defending champion in the Bernard Baruch and third in the Grade 3 Monmouth and

the aforementioned Gulfstream Park Turf.

Bush commented on both short- and long-term targets.

"His next start will be in the Maker's Mark Mile (now called the Maker's 46

Mile) at Keeneland," Bush said of his title defense on April 14. 

Looking further ahead, Bush hopes that Get Stormy will fare better in his

third try at the Breeders' Cup Mile on November 3. The past two years at

Churchill Downs, he has disappointed, but the change of venue to Santa Anita

could reverse his fortunes.

"The two Breeders' Cup races are still a mystery, except that the course

there is different in the fall than it is in the spring. There is less growth in

the fall, but maybe we'll get him on that firm turf at Santa Anita later this

year and he'll like that firm ground out there," Bush said. 

The Kentucky-bred six-year-old is by Stormy Atlantic and out of the Kiri's

Clown mare Foolish Gal. His fourth dam is multiple stakes winner Amerigo's

Fancy, whose other descendants include star English miler Canford Cliffs.