By Alan Carasso
Rockingham Ranch's GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint winner Stormy Liberal (Stormy Atlantic) had his final major tune-up for the Dec. 10 G1 Longines Hong Kong Sprint Tuesday morning, working a bullet five-eighths of a mile :59.20 going clockwise over the main track at San Luis Rey Downs.
“Everything went great, it was easily his best work going the other way and we feel really good about him and how he's doing,” said Rockingham Racing Manager Brian Trump.
According to Trump, connections wanted a stiffer work for the 5-year-old gelding in his third drill since winning the Turf Sprint Nov. 4. Stormy Liberal galloped a leisurely half-mile in :49.20 Nov. 16 and, working the 'wrong' way last time, clocked five furlongs in 1:01.20 Nov. 22.
“Yes, it was a harder work partly by design, but his rider said he's figuring it out,” Trump said, referring to a right-turning track. “It's like he's been doing it his whole life.”
Stormy Liberal is set to depart Los Angeles this weekend and is expected to be bedded down in the Sha Tin quarantine stables by early Sunday morning, local time. Trump expects that it will be a fairly quiet week once Stormy Liberal gets situated.
“[Trainer] Peter [Miller] typically doesn't like to work while he's there, so he'll just jog over the track and we'll try to keep him happy.”
As reported first in the TDN Nov. 26, two-time British champion Silvestre de Sousa has picked up the ride on Stormy Liberal.
“He's a world-class rider and having a lot of success over that track is something that we were really looking for,” said Trump. “We couldn't be happier with that choice.”
Trump said de Sousa will get acquainted with Stormy Liberal towards the end of next week.
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