Woodbine Mile winner El Tormenta being rested in Ocala

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Woodbine Mile winner El Tormenta will get the rest of the season off following his sixth-place finish in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita on Nov. 2, trainer Gail Cox said.

Cox said El Tormenta would spend the next five to six weeks at owner-breeder Sam-Son Farm’s Ocala, Fla., farm before joining her at Payson Park Training Center to resume training for a 5-year-old campaign.

“He’s doing great,” Cox said. “He actually shipped right to Florida.”

El Tormenta was up close to the quick early pace in the Breeders’ Cup Mile before crossing the line 4 1/2 lengths behind winner Uni. El Tormenta earned a 98 Beyer Speed Figure in the Breeders’ Cup Mile following the 101 he earned in the Woodbine Mile on Sept. 14.

“I wish he didn’t have the lead, I will say, but he didn’t totally collapse and it was awfully fast to sustain that for the whole race,” Cox said. “I thought it was respectable and I’m excited about having him for next year.”

Cox said El Tormenta could point toward races like the Woodbine Mile again next season, but he likely won’t run in as many shorter sprints as this year. El Tormenta made his seasonal debut in a 5 1/2-furlong sprint on the turf at Keeneland, and also ran in the Grade 1 Highlander Stakes over six furlongs on the turf at Woodbine on June 29.

“I think we’re more encouraged to go a mile or a mile and a sixteenth,” she said. “He wouldn’t be sprinting going five-eighths at Keeneland. Hopefully, he will have a race at Keeneland. Generally, I go from Florida to there.”