Multi-million dollar future sire Storm Boy (Justify) put his career firmly back on track with a dominant victory in his first three-year-old appearance in Saturday’s San Domenico Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) at Rosehill.
And such was the nature of his win, co-trainer Adrian Bott said a vast range of races were possibilities for him this spring – from three-year-old stallion makers the Coolmore Stud Stakes and Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m), to the $20 million The Everest (1200m) and the Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m).
The Tulloch Lodge-trained colt swept all before him through the first part of his two-year-old season, winning his first four starts including the $3 million Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m).
That led Coolmore to swoop to take control of Storm Boy in a mega deal which includes The Oaks Stud amongst other shareholders, making him one of the most talked about two-year-olds in modern history.
The deal would swell to $50 million if he could win a suite of races headlined by the ATC’s Triple Crown of the Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m), Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) and Champagne Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m).
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 three, such as the Coolmore or The Everest.
Those plans looked in danger of hitting the rocks when Storm Boy turned in two runs which, by his early standards, appeared disappointing. He was slightly slowly away when third as one of the shortest modern Slipper favourites, at $2.60, and then finished fourth in the Sires’, this time at $2.05, on a Heavy 8.
But after a well deserved spell, then two impressive barrier trial wins, and back to a Good 4 at Rosehill on Saturday, this was the Storm Boy of old.
He was well supported in starting at $2.35, but this made him only equal favourite with Chris Waller’s Gatsby’s (Snitzel), who had race fitness on his side after his impressive win in The Rosebud (Listed, 1100m) 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 one to keep up, he soon assumed the lead, and coasted there while Gatsby’s sat 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 dashed clear at the top of the straight and gave nothing else a chance, winning by 2.89 lengths. Stablemate and third-favourite Mayfair (Fastnet Rock) took second, with Anthony and Sam Freedman’s Tropicus (Too Darn Hot) third, and Gatsby’s a disappointing fourth.
The time of 1:02.98 was 0.31 sec outside the race record set by Anders (Not A Single Doubt) in 2020 – not bad considering Storm Boy’s jockey Adam Hyeronimus dropped his whip at the 300-metre mark.
“I was a little bit annoyed,” Hyeronimus told Channel 7. “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 1100 was very exciting.”
Bott, like Coolmore’s Tom Magnier, had admitted to feeling the pressure in the lead-up to Saturday.
But Storm Boy laid their fears to rest in another piece of emphatic advertising for Coolmore’s former shuttler Justify (Scat Daddy), third on last term’s second-season and two-year-old sires’ tables, and recently buoyed in Europe by the deeds of City Of Troy, who has won four Group 1 so far in his career.
After the San Domenico, bookmakers wound Storm Boy in to $6 for the Coolmore Stud Stakes – second favourite behind $4.50 shot Growing Empire (Zoustar), who won Caulfield’s McNeil Stakes 15 minutes later. A mouth-watering contest awaits if they get to Derby Day, but while Ciaron Maher’s colt is definitely headed towards that race, the options are many for Storm Boy.
Locked in are the Run To The Rose (Gr 2, 1200m) on September 14 and the Golden Rose (Gr 1, 1400m), also at Rosehill, two weeks later.
And while he’s second favourite for the 1200-metre Coolmore, Bott said the Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) and the Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m) were also possibilities.
But so too is a drop back in distance from the Golden Rose to the $20 million The Everest (1200m) on October 19.
“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.”
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 (Fastnet Rock/Seachange), a dual city winner from nine starts.
Waterhouse-Bott also bought her colt by Pierro (Lonhro), now named Shangri La Boy, at the Gold Coast this year for $375,000. Pelican now has a yearling filly by Coolmore shuttler St Mark’s Basilica (Siyouni), and was covered by Justify again last November.
