In the midst of an 0-for-4 campaign at age 3, Storm the Court is making a summer surface switch, just as his sire, Court Vision, did as a sophomore 12 years earlier.
The champion 2-year-old male of 2019, Storm the Court is the leading money-earner in a field of eight for the $125,000 La Jolla Handicap (G3T) at Del Mar Aug. 9, having won the TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) last year in a 45-1 upset. But he is not the only talented colt in the 1 1/16-mile grass race, which also drew stakes winners Azul Coast, Indian Peak, Kanderel, and Smooth Like Strait .
If Storm the Court can prove nearly as successful as Court Vision with the surface switch, bright days are ahead.
The latter, who won the 2007 Iroquois Stakes (G3) and Remsen Stakes (G2) on dirt at 2 in 2007, reinvented himself as a grass horse when trainer Bill Mott moved him from dirt to turf after a 13th-place finish in the 2008 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1). That fall, he won the Jamaica Handicap (G2T) and Hollywood Derby (G1T). As an older horse, he captured the Woodbine Mile Stakes (G1T) and TVG Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T), the latter for trainer Dale Romans.
Storm the Court is also related to a winner on turf, Belleoftheprairie (by U S Ranger), who went 2-for-10 on grass.
Though Storm the Court has not yet raced on turf, he has breezed three times on the grass at Del Mar this summer, the most recent of which was a workmanlike five-furlong breeze in 1:02 July 26. Trainer Peter Eurton said that work represented a "bit of a hiccup" after earlier breezes pleased him more. So he followed the July 26 breeze with one on dirt Aug. 2 at Del Mar, in which Storm the Court went five furlongs in a more spirited :59 4/5.
Royal Act (Outside) and Storm the Court worked 4 Furlongs in 50.00 @DelMarRacing on July 26th, 2020, for trainer @EurtonRacing. Storm The Court will make his next start in the G. III La Jolla Handicap at Del Mar on August 9th. @1stbet pic.twitter.com/t07voptNQq
— XBTV (@WatchXBTV) July 27, 2020
"Now we just have to see if he is as good on the turf, if not better," he said.
Eurton and owners David Bernsen, Exline-Border Racing, Dan Hudock, and Susanna Wilson have not closed the door on a return to dirt, potentially in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) at Churchill Downs Sept. 5. Sunday's race does not offer qualifying points toward the Derby, but the colt has 36, ranking him 17th on the leaderboard heading into the weekend.
"The decision won't be made until a week or two after the La Jolla," he said.
Flavien Prat rides the colt, who finished a wide third last out in the June 27 Ohio Derby (G3) at Thistledown.
Smooth Like Strait is the most proven turf competitor in the La Jolla, having won the Cecil B. DeMille Stakes (G3T) at Del Mar last year and the May 23 War Chant Stakes at Churchill Downs. Those two races were at a mile.
#9 Smooth Like Strait runs away with the War Chant at @ChurchillDowns for Michael McCarthy under @ljlmvel pic.twitter.com/3MgJshsHis
— TwinSpires Racing 🏇 (@TwinSpires) May 23, 2020
"He's stretching out another sixteenth, but I don't see him as a colt with distance limitations," trainer Michael McCarthy said.
Smooth Like Strait is by Midnight Lute, a sprinter but who has sired successful stakes routers, led by champion Midnight Bisou. His dam, Smooth as Usual (by Flower Alley), got her only win on turf at 6 1/2 furlongs.
Umberto Rispoli rides Smooth Like Strait, who, like Storm the Court, races on or near the early lead.
Del Mar, Sunday, August 9, 2020, Race 10Entries: La Jolla H. (G3T)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1I'm Leaving You (KY) Geovanni Franco 118 Vann Belvoir 15/1 2 2K P All Systems Go (NY) Abel Cedillo 120 Jeff Mullins 6/1 3 3Azul Coast (KY) Drayden Van Dyke 120 Bob Baffert 4/1 4 4Ajourneytofreedom (KY) Ricardo Gonzalez 119 Blaine D. Wright 12/1 5 5Kanderel (KY) Juan J. Hernandez 120 Richard E. Mandella 10/1 6 6Smooth Like Strait (KY) Umberto Rispoli 124 Michael W. McCarthy 5/2 7 7Storm the Court (KY) Flavien Prat 124 Peter Eurton 3/1 8 8Indian Peak (CA) Mike E. Smith 121 Quinn Howey 6/1
