When Woodbine jockey Justin Stein announced his retirement from riding on May 1 to return to his home province of British Columbia, there were plenty of the usual arrangements to make to move his family of six and all their possessions.
There were also several animal transports needed, including one for a special member of his family, the millionaire racehorse Stormy Lord.
Stormy Lord was adopted by Stein, 36, in 2013 when the chestnut son of Stormy Atlantic—Lady Auchamore, by Meadowlake was brought back to Canada by former trainer Ian Black after being claimed from Kinghaven Farms and Hat Trick Stable by Ken and Sarah Ramsay.
Stormy was not as popular when he was a yearling. He went unsold at the Keeneland September yearling sale in 2008 when bids did not go higher than $10,000. That was a huge missed opportunity for prospective buyers and the speedy gelding went on to a successful career winning graded stakes races on the grass throughout the continent.
Stein was a partner for four of the gelding’s 10 career wins including consecutive stakes victories in the President’s Cup at Parx and the Labeeb Stakes at Woodbine in the fall of 2011. The Labeeb was one of Stein’s favourite Stormy Lord moments.
“He beat [Roger Attfield-trained] Hollinger here in the flat mile. He just dug in,” said Stein. “Hollinger kept bashing into Stormy’s hip with his shoulder, but he dug in and beat him by half a length.”
Stormy Lord was claimed from Kinghaven (who bred the gelding) and Hat Trick for $80,000 in March 2013 from a race at Gulfstream Park and then claimed again for $50,000 by the Ramsays. Stormy Lord won a claiming race in his first start for that stable before plans were set in place to bring him back to Canada and retire. He won 10 races and over $1.2 million.
Stein dearly wanted to adopt the gelding and brought him to his farm in Caledon, ON and to a paddock made just for the star runner.
“We have a lot of history Stormy and I. He’s a special animal. I love to go out and look at him and take him for trail rides,” said Stein. “He’s hard to catch without the halter. He won’t let me catch him. I always have to catch the pony first.”
Recently, Stein hopped on Stormy Lord and began roping and his gelding took to it like a professional. That will come in handy as Stormy will soon be in charge of rounding up the Stein family’s recently-purchased herd of 110 goats on a property they bought in Kamloops.
“I’m really excited for Stormy to experience this new life and I can’t wait to show him off to all my family (in B.C.) and the people I grew up with,” said Stein. “He’s gorgeous. Everyone thinks their horse is gorgeous, but next to him they’ll all look like scrubby little ponies.”
Stein may be leaving racing for now (he does not rule out a comeback) but he will always be surrounded by racehorses.
“I will always have thoroughbreds,” said Stein, whose biggest wins include the 2012 Queen’s Plate on Strait of Dover and the 2015 Woodbine Oaks on Academic. “They are the smartest and kindest horse you can have.”
