Gary Barber’s sophomore filly Got Stormy delivered on her pari-mutuel promise in the $125,000 Ontario Colleen on Saturday at Woodbine Racetrack, adding a graded win to her current streak of stakes success.
With Patrick Husbands aboard for her Canadian debut, the Mark Casse trainee was sent postward as the overwhelming 3-5 favourite following back-to-back stakes wins stateside and was an easy winner in Saturday’s one-mile Grade 3 turf event, finishing two lengths in front of inside stalker A. A. Azula’s Arch and pacesetter Ladies Night.
Got Stormy broke sharply from post six to get the first call out of the gate, but relaxed down the backstretch and raced three-wide outside of Fairy Hill and Ladies Night, who set early fractions of :24.82 and :48.86. Got Stormy took command by three-quarters in 1:12.02 and opened up down the stretch to win in 1:34.59.
“She’s a very keen filly and this is the first time I got on her,” commented Husbands after the race. “Mark called me this morning and said, ‘Patrick, try to see if you can get her to relax’ because at Woodbine we have [one] turn, there’s a big straightaway.
“She ran back to her form. The last two races that she won, she won pretty easy so she showed that she was the best today.”
Got Stormy’s three stakes wins have taken place over three different one-mile turf courses. The Get Stormy-Super Phoebe filly also won the Penn Oaks at Penn National and the Wild Applause Stakes at Belmont Park last month. She has now won half of her eight lifetime starts and has finished no worse than fourth.
“She’s fabulous. It’s nice to see her get a graded win today, that really moves her up,” said assistant trainer Kathryn Sullivan. “Mr. Barber has been a great client for us. He loves horse racing.”
Barber, who watched Wonder Gadot win the Queen’s Plate three weeks ago, could be in for more excitement as that filly headlines the field for the $400,000 Prince of Wales Stakes, the second leg of the OLG Canadian Triple Crown, this coming Tuesday, July 24 at Fort Erie Race Track.
Got Stormy paid $3.20, $2.40 and $2.10. She combined with second choice A. A. Azula’s Arch ($6, $4.20) for a 6-1 exacta worth $12.30. Ladies Night ($15.80) completed the 6-1-3 trifecta, which paid $107 for a $1 ticket. With Armoricaine finishing fourth, a $1 superfecta of 6-1-3-2 returned $599.05.
The winner’s stablemate Safe to Say rounded out the top five with Get Explicit, Peach of a Gal and Fairy Hill completing the order of finish.
Live Thoroughbred racing continues at Woodbine on Sunday afternoon, featuring the $175,000 Nijinsky Stakes (Grade 2). First race post time is 1 p.m.
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