Dual Grade 1 winner Get Stormy breezed six furlongs over
the Oklahoma
turf course Friday morning in preparation for a start in next Friday’s Grade 2,
1 1/8-mile Bernard Baruch.
The
5-year-old son of Stormy Atlantic, who took to the turf at approximately 8:45
a.m. under jockey Ramon Dominguez, was clocked in 1:13 3/5 by trainer Tom Bush,
galloping out in 1:26. Loose horses have caused trouble in Get Stormy’s two
previous works, and while his breeze was uninterrupted on Friday, he wheeled
around pulling up and unseated Dominguez, who managed to keep hold of the reins
and remount.
“The
work was very good,” said Bush, who trains Get Stormy for Sullimar Stable. “We
couldn’t have been more pleased. I wasn’t too pleased about him wheeling with
Ramon when he pulled up, but luckily Ramon was able to keep a hold of him and
he’s no worse for wear. It was the work that we kind of expected out of him and
he gave it to us.”
Get
Stormy has not run since a third-place finish in the Grade 3 Monmouth Stakes on
June 12. He was scheduled to defend his title in the Grade 2 Fourstardave
Handicap on July 31, but came up with a minor tendon issue the morning entries
were taken for the race and was withdrawn from consideration.
“He’s
coming off a 12-week layoff and he’s got to go a mile and an eighth,” said Bush.
“So he’s got his work cut out for him, but he’s run exceptionally well up here
in the past and hopefully he can give us another good one.”
While
Bush appears to be back on track with Get Stormy, the trainer’s longtime New
York-bred turf star Banrock is under
the weather and shipped Friday morning to the
Mid-Atlantic
Equine
Medical
Center in
Lambertville ,
N.J. , for further evaluation.
The
8-year-old Go for Gin gelding was scratched from Thursday’s $100,000
West Point presented by Trustco Bank after he turned up
with elevated bilirubin levels the morning of the race, which could indicate a
liver problem.
“Bilirubin is just one of many values that you’re measuring in your
chemistry,” Bush said. “It happens to deal with a number of things, but the
liver is one of the main things that you’re dealing with. He’s got a little bit
of yellow in the membranes of his eyes and a little bit of yellow in his gums;
clearly he’s got some sort of backup. Something is causing his liver not to
filter those red blood cells and that’s where the jaundice comes from.
“We
sent him to Dr. Rodney Belgrave at Mid-Atlantic Equine. He’s a terrific medicine
man and he’s done some very difficult cases for us in the past and we have to
turn it over to the experts because this is just an unusual kind of area that
we’re dealing with. If Banrock doesn’t ever run again, that’s not a problem. We
can take care of him in other ways, so hopefully we can get him back to health,
that’s the main thing.”
A
Nyala Farm homebred, Banrock has a record of 12-5-4 from 39 career starts and
has won each of the major turf route stakes for New York-breds at least once,
including two wins in the West Point in 2008
and 2009.