Tom Bush

Sullimar Stables’ Get Stormy held off a furious late charge from Street Move to win the sixth running of the $112,100 Commonwealth Turf  (Grade III) for 3-year-olds by a nose at Churchill Downs on Sunday.

    Ridden by Javier Castellano, who won his third race on the afternoon, and trained by Tom Bush, Get Stormy took the lead out of the gate with Major Marvel and Florentino (Jpn) in closest pursuit. Get Stormy carved out fractions of :23.57, :47.19 and 1:11.68 over the firm Matt Winn Turf Course.

Turning for home, Get Stormy disposed of his two closest pursuers and opened a daylight advantage. Street Move, ridden by Joe Bravo, was sixth at the top of the stretch and brushed with Grizzled Robert in the upper stretch before accelerating and just failing to catch Get Stormy.
    
    Get Stormy covered the 1 1/16 miles in a stakes-record 1:41.67. The previous mark was held by Inca King, who won in 1:43.17 in 2007.

    In winning for the fourth consecutive time and fifth time in 12 starts, Get Stormy increased his career earnings to $273,586 with Sunday’s $66,027 paycheck. Get Stormy is a Kentucky-bred son of Stormy Atlantic.

    Get Stormy returned $5.80, $4 and $3.40. Street Move paid $6 and $4.80 and finished three lengths ahead of Grizzled Robert, who returned $10 to show under Jesus Castanon in the field of 10.

    Racing resumes Wednesday with a 10-race program that begins at 12:40 p.m.

POST-RACE QUOTES – THE COMMONWEALTH TURF

JAVIER CASTELLANO, jockey of GET STORMY, winner: “I was very happy to be riding today. We had a great post to go straight to the rail and try to harness some of my speed. I don’t want to take anything away from the horse. He was very sharp today and felt great. I tried to make him relax a little today. He got some pretty easy fractions up front. When I asked him to take off for home he responded very well and opened up for me. He is really starting to mature and turn into a nice horse.”

MARY SULLIVAN (Vero Beach, Fla.), owner of GET STORMY, winner: “This is great. This is absolutely just wonderful beyond belief. I was hoping [we’d win the photo] but I wasn’t sure until they put it up. It was so close. What a great race. He’s moved up a lot and now he’s going to have a rest until his 4-year-old year. He’s done well enough to go home and take it easy for awhile.”

JOE BRAVO, jockey of STREET MOVE, runner-up: “If it was a mile and a sixteenth and a jump he gets all of it today. Just give all the credit to Kiaran (McLaughlin) for bringing this one around. He is really starting to develop and become a great horse.”

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Sullimar Stables’ Get Stormy and William Stiritz’s Proceed Bee, Grade III turf winners in their most recent starts, headline a field of 10 3-year-olds entered for Sunday’s sixth running of the Grade III $100,000-added Commonwealth Turf.

The Commonwealth Turf, won last year by Nistle’s Crunch, is run at 1 1/16 miles on the Matt Winn Turf Course and will go as the ninth race on Sunday’s 10-race card at 4:37 p.m. (all times EST). First post time is 12:40 p.m.

Get Stormy, trained by Tom Bush, has won his past three starts. The winning streak started with a pair of wins at Saratoga that included an allowance race at a mile on grass at Saratoga and the $80,000 Lure, also run at a mile on turf. Get Stormy then won the Bryan Station at Keeneland by 1 ½ lengths on Oct. 18 under Javier Castellano, who has the mount Sunday. Get Stormy will break from post position one.

Proceed Bee, who has won on grass, dirt and an all-weather track in 2009, won the Hawthorne Derby on Oct. 10 in his most recent start. Trained by Scott Becker, Proceed Bee won the Honor Glide at Arlington Park on Sept. 7 and last fall here on the closing-day “Stars of Tomorrow II” card won the Grand Canyon at a mile and a sixteenth on the Matt Winn Turf Course.

Chris Emigh, who has been aboard Proceed Bee nine times in the gelding’s 14-race career including the past four starts, has the riding assignment on Sunday. Proceed Bee will break from post position 10.

The only graded-stakes winner over the Matt Winn Turf Course in the Commonwealth Turf field is Darley Stable’s Florentino (Jpn), who took the Grade II Jefferson Cup here in June. Trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, Florentino will try to join Inca King as the only horses to win the Jefferson Cup and Commonwealth Turf. Inca King achieved his double in 2007.

Miguel Mena has the call on Florentino on Sunday, breaking from post position three. Florentino, Get Stormy and Proceed Bee will carry high weight of 123 pounds each, conceding 4-6 pounds to their rivals.

   The field for the Commonwealth Turf, from the hedge out, is as follows: Get Stormy (J. Castellano, 123 pounds), Pop Tarrt (S. Gonzalez Jr., 119), Florentino (Jpn) (M. Mena, 123), Street Move (J. Bravo, 119), Major Marvel (K. Desormeaux, 117), Quite a Handful (R. Albarado, 117), Grizzled Robert (J. Castanon, 119), Perfect Bull (D. Butler, 119), Spectacular Kid (L. Goncalves, 117) amd Proceed Bee (C. Emigh, 123).