Stormy Embrace gets shot at redemption in Sugar Swirl

You’re not supposed to be disappointed when a 44-1 shot doesn’t win, but Kathleen O’Connell couldn’t help herself. For O’Connell, an 11th-place finish by Stormy Embrace in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint last month was a letdown, mostly because she knows her stable star is capable of much better.

“It was just a rough trip,” said O’Connell. “She was wide and there were a lot of horses,” referring to a full gate of 14 in the Nov. 3 race at Churchill Downs.

Saturday at Gulfstream Park, Stormy Embrace will get a prime opportunity to redeem herself when she faces seven others in the Grade 3, $100,000 Sugar Swirl. Although six furlongs might be a tad short for her liking, there’s little doubt Stormy Embrace is the class of the field. Her victory in the Grade 2 Princess Rooney in late June at the South Florida track is the pinnacle of a 21-race career in which the 4-year-old Florida-bred has earned more than $460,000.

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“She came out of the Breeders’ Cup really well,” said O’Connell. “She’s had a great year. Six furlongs isn’t really her deal, and you hate to take a horse that’s doing great out of her element, but she’s training great and she loves Gulfstream.”

Stormy Embrace has a 4-for-8 career mark over the Gulfstream track.

Stormy Embrace will have Tyler Gaffalione aboard when she breaks from post 4 in the Sugar Swirl. Her chief threat is another returnee from Breeders’ Cup weekend at Churchill: Dream Pauline, who was excluded as an also-eligible for the Filly and Mare Sprint and instead finished third in the Dream Supreme on Nov. 4 for trainer Kiaran McLaughlin. Bred and owned by Stonestreet Stables, Dream Pauline won her first two starts, both in New York, prior to her most recent start.

Awestruck, the Dream Supreme runner-up for trainer Rusty Arnold, is foremost among the balance of starters in the Sugar Swirl.

The Sugar Swirl, named for the star Frank Stronach homebred who raced from 2006-08, is one of five Saturday stakes at Gulfstream and the last of two for fillies and mares on the main track. It’s set for 4:36 p.m. Eastern as the 10th of 11 races.

The preceding filly-mare stakes, the Rampart (race 8, 3:34), will be one of the last best chances for Chad Brown to add to his North American-leading total of 46 graded stakes wins in 2018. Brown will be represented by Electric Forest in the one-mile Rampart when the Stonestreet Farm homebred breaks from post 1 in a field of seven.

Electric Forest, with Jose Ortiz riding, will be making her stakes debut, having sandwiched maiden and allowance victories around a sixth-place finish on the May 4 Kentucky Oaks undercard at Churchill.

Electric Forest “unfortunately was injured in her second career start at Churchill, but she has since fully recovered and is in top form again,” said Brown, who appears on his way to a third straight Eclipse Award for outstanding trainer. “She’s training very well and we’re looking forward to stretching her out.”

By far the leading earner in the lineup for the 40th Rampart is Tequilita, a multiple graded winner who has banked more than $600,000, all for Dee Dee Matz and her husband, trainer Michael Matz. Tequilita, with Luis Saez riding from post 5, will be looking to snap an eight-race losing streak after having faced graded foes for much of the year.

One intriguing Rampart contender is Tweeting, who will break from post 2 under Albin Jimenez. Since Jorge Navarro assumed her training, the 4-year-old filly has posted easily her top Beyer Speed Figures (87 and 89), although she’s in for quite a test trying graded company for the first time.

Tapa Tapa Tapa is among the Rampart sleepers. The gray posted a field-high 102 Beyer last December and has been working bullets for trainer Tim Hamm at Tampa Bay Downs for her first start since April.