2019 Eclipse Awards: Storm the Court

Storm the Court has been a longshot in all of his races. But given how he performed in two of them, he is the likely favorite to win the Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old male.

In a juvenile division where there were eight individual Grade 1 stakes winners – including turf races – Storm the Court won arguably the biggest race, holding on for a head victory over Anneau d’Or in the $2 million TVG Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita on Nov. 1. At 45-1, he was longest-priced winner of the Juvenile in the 36-year history of the race. Twenty-seven of the previous 35 winners of the Juvenile won the Eclipse Award.

Storm the Court, a son of Court Vision out of the Tejano Run mare My Tejana Storm, is trained by Peter Eurton. He won the Juvenile in his fourth start of the year. In August, at Del Mar, Storm the Court turned aside 2-5 favorite Garth to win his debut at odds of 12-1.

:: Full list of 2019 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories

Storm the Court was 14-1 in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity, a race in which jockey Flavien Prat was unseated after the horse was run into by Eight Rings, who ducked in leaving the gate and also unseated his rider.

Uninjured, Storm the Court ran back in the Grade 1 American Pharoah at Santa Anita, where he finished third, 8 1/4 lengths behind Eight Rings, who won in gate-to-wire fashion. Undeterred, Eurton decided to forge on to the Juvenile, with one change.

At the suggestion of Prat, Eurton added blinkers to Storm the Court’s equipment. When the blinkers didn’t make Storm the Court rank in the morning, Eurton decided to use them in the Juvenile. When Dennis’ Moment stumbled badly at the break, Storm the Court found himself on the lead. He was stalked by Eight Rings for six furlongs and then, turning for home, he was confronted by Anneau d’Or from the outside. Storm the Court held Anneau d’Or at bay through the lane to get the victory.

Harkening back to his debut, when Storm the Court was pressed by two horses early and then turned back the heavy favorite in the stretch, Eurton was confident his horse would fight in the Breeders’ Cup.

“I never lost faith, I knew we were asking a lot, but when he gets out there like he does, he’s so honest and he just tries,” Eurton said.

Storm the Court returned to the work tab on Dec. 22 at Santa Anita. Eurton said all options were open for the colt’s 3-year-old debut, though he was strongly considering getting him started back in February with races like the $100,000 Robert Lewis at 1 1/16 miles on Feb. 1 or the $200,000 San Vicente at seven furlongs on Feb. 9 as options.

Storm the Court, a $60,000 purchase at the OBS 2-year-old-in-training sale in April, is owned by Ryan Exline, David Bernsen, Susanna Wilson, and Dan Hudock. He was bred in Kentucky by Stepping Stone Farm.