Game Changers: Meet Stormcast

Once a week, from January to April, Woodbine will profile a horse who had a life-changing impact on one of their closest connections in 2024. This week, Kathryn Sullivan and multiple Sovereign Award finalist (Champion Three-Year-Old Female, Champion Female Turf Horse, and Champion Female Sprinter) Stormcast.

Sullivan, who joined trainer Mark Casse’s team in 2008, holds the reins as assistant trainer and VP of communications for the dual hall of famer’s Ontario operation.

“I started teaching riding when I was 14 and I began grooming horses at the track on summer vacations in university,” said Sullivan, whose list of favourite horses includes standouts Pool Play, Dynamic Sky, Lexie Lou, and State of Honor.

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Stormcast (ON) Bio

Foaled: February 12, 2021
Sire: Mitole
Dam: Scolara
Purchased: $95,000 (U.S.) at the 2023 Ocala Breeders’ Sales March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training
Starts: 8
Wins-Seconds-Thirds: 3-4-1
Earnings: $309,205 (U.S.)
Notable races: Won last year’s Grade 3 Bessarabian Stakes and Bison City Stakes. Second in the Honey Ryder Stakes last May. Second in last year’s running of the Wonder Where Stakes
Trainer: Mark Casse
Owner: K E M Racing Stable
Groom: Ivan Forde
Breeder: Dr. Tan Hyka

What were your first impressions of Stormcast?

“She was just beautiful – a striking horse. She loves to train, so she was very professional on the track. She’s a real head-turner. Certain horses have a way about them, and she always had that. She wasn’t a spectacularly expensive horse, but she always trained so forwardly, and you could tell she liked her job. She had a lot going for her.”

A woman in the winners circle at Woodbine.

Kathryn Sullivan. (Michael Burns Photo)

How would you best describe her personality on and off the track?

“On the track, she is professional and a monster to train. She’s very well behaved, but she loves to train. Around the barn, she is very sweet, lovely, and good natured.”

“One race – I think it was an allowance race at the beginning of the year that she ran at Woodbine – we had an older set of silks that weren’t aerodynamic. Patrick [jockey, Husbands] said the flapping was scaring her during the race. Mark [Casse] called me after and said, ‘Let’s get those new ones right away.’ That is one funny little characteristic of her that we hadn’t run across before.”

What do you remember most about the (Grade 3) Bessarabian win?

“I was so happy for her. She ran so well in the Wonder Where and lost by a neck, so I was so happy that she was able to get that graded stakes win on her resume. I was so proud of her. I think she knew [that she had won]. She’s very smart.”

What are the three best words to describe Stormcast?

“Beautiful. Classy. Sweet.”

How has she changed your life?

“I would say that she is one of the horses who makes your job so enjoyable because she is so good at her job, loves it and is wonderful to be around. She tries every time and if she doesn’t win, she gives her all, which is such a special trait for a horse. I know everyone in the barn would say they love every moment they get to be around her.”