Stormy Liberal still on target for Dubai

ARCADIA, Calif. – Stormy Liberal, the 2018 champion turf male, was given a clean bill of health over the weekend after a worrisome incident in an allowance race last Friday at Santa Anita when the 7-year-old gelding stumbled prior to finishing second.

The positive diagnosis has led trainer Peter Miller to plan a start for Stormy Liberal in the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan Racecourse in the United Arab Emirates on March 30.

“He’s fine,” Miller said. “We were very concerned, obviously, when he looked like he slipped. Thank goodness, he’s 100 percent.”

The $2 million Al Quoz Sprint is run on a straightaway course at six furlongs. Last March, Stormy Liberal was second by a half-length to Jungle Cat in the Al Quoz.

Owned by Rockingham Ranch and David Bernsen, Stormy Liberal has won the last two runnings of the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar and Churchill Downs. Stormy Liberal has won 12 of 32 starts and earned $1,952,330.

In the allowance race last Friday at five furlongs on turf, Stormy Liberal was second to the turn and led briefly before the stumbling incident. The 3-10 favorite, Stormy Liberal recovered quickly to finish a head behind race winner Eddie Haskell.

Eddie Haskell will be pointed to the $100,000 Sensational Star Stakes for California-breds at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course March 24, trainer Mark Glatt said.

Eddie Haskell has won three of his last four starts, with all the wins in five-furlong turf races at Del Mar and Santa Anita. Glatt admitted Eddie Haskell was fortunate to beat Stormy Liberal, considering the stumble.

“He might have been a little fortunate to beat that horse,” Glatt said. “He ran with him and he beat him. He was going to be right there, and you can’t have better company than that.”