Multi-million dollar future sire Storm Boy (by Justify ) put his career firmly back on track with a dominant victory in his first 3-year-old appearance in the Aug. 31 San Domenico Stakes (G3) at Rosehill.
Such was the nature of his win, co-trainer Adrian Bott said a vast range of races were possibilities for him this spring—from 3-year-old stallion makers the Coolmore Stud Stakes (G1) and Caulfield Guineas (G1), to the AU$20 million The Everest and the Cox Plate (G1).
"It's amazing to be able to talk about a horse that has got the potential to do that," Bott said. "He really could go either way and be very effective as well."
The Tulloch Lodge-trained colt swept all before him through the first part of his 2-year-old season, winning his first four starts including the AU$3 million Magic Millions 2YO Classic. That led Coolmore to swoop to take control of Storm Boy in a mega deal, making him one of the most talked about 2-year-olds in modern Australian history.
The deal would swell to AU$50 million if he could win a suite of races headlined by the ATC's Triple Crown of the Golden Slipper (G1), Sires' Produce Stakes (G1), and Champagne Stakes (G1). Significant kicker payments, on top of an eight-figure sum paid upfront, would also be due if Storm Boy can win any signature races at age 3, such as the Coolmore or The Everest.
Those plans looked in danger of hitting the rocks when Storm Boy turned in two runs that, by his early standards, appeared disappointing. He was slightly slowly away when third as one of the shortest modern Slipper favorites, and then finished fourth in the Sires' Produce, on a surface listed as heavy.
But after a well-deserved spell, then two impressive barrier trial wins, and back to a "Good 4" surface at Rosehill Saturday, this was the Storm Boy of old.
He was well-supported in starting at 2-1, but this made him only equal favorite with Chris Waller's Gatsby's, who had race fitness on his side after his impressive win in the listed Rosebud two weeks earlier. But Storm Boy didn't just outshine Gatsby's, he blitzed his six rivals.
Though he again had to be bustled at the start from Gate 1 to keep up, he soon assumed the lead, and coasted there while Gatsby's raced third. While that colt appeared to be stalking his rival, no battle ensued.
In a picture so familiar through his first four starts, Storm Boy then dashed clear at the top of the straight and gave nothing else a chance, winning by nearly three lengths. Stablemate and third-favorite Mayfair took second, with Anthony and Sam Freedman's Tropicus third, and Gatsby's a disappointing fourth.
The time of 1:02.98 was 0.31 seconds outside the race record set by Anders in 2020—not bad considering Storm Boy's jockey Adam Hyeronimus dropped his whip at the 300-meter mark.
"I was a little bit annoyed," Hyeronimus said. "I just really wanted to open him up and see if we could bust the track record or something.
"So, a little bit disappointed from a fitness point of view. We couldn't get to the bottom of him, but I'm sure we will and I'm sure he'll improve a lot off that run. For a horse we've always pegged as a seven-furlong or mile horse, to be electric like that over 1,100 (meters, about 5 1/2 furlongs) was very exciting."
Bott, like Coolmore's Tom Magnier, had admitted to feeling pressure in the lead-up to Saturday.
But Storm Boy laid fears to rest in another piece of emphatic advertising for Coolmore's former shuttler Justify, third on last term's second-season and 2-year-old sires' tables, and recently buoyed in Europe by the deeds of City Of Troy, who has won four group 1 races.
Bott said the San Domenico romp had "taken a few question marks away from him".
"We asked so much of him last campaign—in the Magic Millions, then things didn't quite go his way in the Golden Slipper, and maybe we asked one too many runs of him going into the Sires'.
"So, we were just trying to prove that point, that he's as good a colt as he is. So, it is satisfying to see him make the statement on his own accord."
Bred by Coolmore's Katom entity, Storm Boy—a $460,000 Magic Millions buy for Tulloch Lodge and Bruce Slade's Kestrel Thoroughbreds—is the first of three foals for Pelican, a dual city winner from nine starts.
