Get Stormy, Proceed Bee Meet Jefferson Cup Winner Florentino In Sunday's Commonwealth Turf

Nov 12, 2009 Gary Yunt

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).