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• 2 YEAR OLD COLT ON DIRT
• 2 YEAR OLD FILLY ON DIRT
• 2 YEAR OLD COLT ON TURF
• 2 YEAR OLD FILLY ON TURF
• 3 YEAR OLD COLT ON DIRT
• 3 YEAR OLD FILLY ON DIRT
• 3 YEAR OLD COLT ON TURF
• 3 YEAR OLD FILLY ON TURF
• OLDER HORSE ON DIRT
• OLDER MARE ON DIRT
• OLDER HORSE ON TURF
• OLDER MARE ON TURF
• SPRINTER ON DIRT
• SPRINTER ON TURF
• TRAINER OF THE YEAR
• HORSE OF THE YEAR

2009 awards home

Champion Older Dirt Horse

K'S STORM MAKER

5yo Horse - Empire Maker x Storm Cat x Mr. Prospector

OWNER/TRAINER – Wreckagees (Ledwith)

RECORD: 2009: 8 / 6-0-0
LIFETIME EARNINGS: $2,056,608

2009 Stakes:

WON: The Foregone (G1), The Juan Eduardo Cruz (G1), The No More Mistakes, The Commonwealth (G2), The Strong Leader (G3), The Great King Rat Challenge

K's Strong Leader:   Find A Plan And Stick With It

By- Kiddman

Background

A quick look at the breeding line of K's Storm Maker demonstrates that Ledwith meant business when he put this dream breeding matchup together.   This one must have cost a lot of credits to set up, to be sure, but the powerful stable group run by Ledwith is no stranger to success, with his 26 stables averaging a whopping 27% winners at the time of this writing.

Back in December of '06, K's Storm Maker made his debut a winning one, winning on a muddy Dubal surface as the odds-on favorite.   After a near-miss 2 nd and a pair of distance/sirface experiments, the stunning brown colt then began to stockpile dirt-sprint sprintallowance victories at Japan through most of his 3yo year before trying stakes races.   After a few more tries with a couple of wins, it became highly apparent that the wreckagees colt's best distance was 7 furlongs.  

Ledwith put a plan into action to go on a world tour with his fabulous stretch-runner.   If the race was graded, or big-money, AND if it was at 7 furlong on the dirt, K's Storm Maker would be there. The rest of 2008 yielded four stakes victories (two graded-stakes) in five tries, all exactly at 7 furlongs on the main track.   Things were looking great for 2009, and Ledwith carefully planned an itinerary for his amazing 5yo horse, an All-American tour of top 7f dirt races.

The Big Year

Jan. 17:   Montana hosts the Seven River Handicap and K's Storm Maker is the 3/2 favorite against an apparently overmatched field of 12.   As the horses round the turn, the crowd buzzes in anticipation of the usual gigantic stretch drive of K's Storm Maker, but he is caught behind a wall of horses until nearly midstretch.   When he finally breaks clear, he blows past horses as if they're painted on the fence, but there just isn't enough time.   He finishes fourth, only a little more than a length back, charging past the winner just a few yards beyond the wire.   The winner, Saint Alley, sets a new stakes record (1:22.0).

Feb. 28:   At South Carolina, K's Storm Maker is the heavy favorite in the first running of The Great King Rat Challenge.   This time, the huge throng gets what they were hoping for, a fabulous stretch run to an easy victory.   He earns a 113 speed rating with a snappy time of 1:21, obviously a stakes record in the race's first running, but one that won't be easy to beat.

Apr. 11:   In his first of three consecutive Eastern Kentucky starts, K's Storm Maker returns to the graded-stakes ranks in the G2 Commonwealth.   He is a mild 7/2 favorite in a solid field of 14, but blasts by them all in the stretch to win by almost two lengths, getting a 114 speed rating with a time of 1:21.   First running of the race, stakes record time...   Starting to sense a theme here, maybe?

May 30:   The G1 No More Mistakes.   Again, he's made the 7/2 favorite; apparently the EK fans couldn't believe what they saw on Apr. 11.   Yet again, K's Storm Maker charges from far back to win by a widening 1.5 lengths.   This time, he gets a 115 speed rating for his 1:20.4 time and establishes a new stakes record.

July 18:   The G1 Juan Eduardo Cruz.   The EK track keeps writing new 7f dirt stakes; K's Storm Maker is gonna be there.   Once again, he's a lukewarm 7/2 choice, and he comes from far back again to crush another solid field.   The crowd boos when they see "only" a 1.21.1 time on the tote board.

Sept. 5:   K's Storm Maker travels to Upper New York to try the G1 Foregone, facing his strongest filed thus far.   He's made only a tepid 9/2 favorite by the jaded New York crowd, but delivers in convincing fashion, coming from over 10 lengths back for a dominant 1.5-length win.   His time: a dazzling 1:20.2, the fastest time for the distance in 2009 anywhere in the Sim world.

Oct: 31:   Halloween brings a scare to New York's top sprinters in the name of K's Storm Maker, here to run as the clear 5/2 choice in the G3 Strong Leader Stakes.   Other owners in the race were hoping that K's Storm Maker would be scratched in favor of a trip to the Breeders' Bowl Sprint, but Ledwith remains disciplined, true to his horse's love of the 7f distance.   Once again, he falls far back early in the race, but unleashes a mighty charge to win by 2 lengths, starting HOY talk for the fabulous Ledwith sprinter.   The time is 1:20.4, the third-fastest 7F time of 2009 anywhere in the Sim.

Dec. 26:   K's Storm Maker is made the 8/5 choice in the Ireneo Leguisamo Stakes; it's widely considered a virtual "victory lap" on the way to HOY honors for the great sprinter.   Of course, it doesn't go that way.   The colt drop far back like usual, but when it's time for the accustomed mighty charge, the tank is empty.   The year finishes as it started, in unexpected defeat.

That's the K's Storm Maker story for 2009, and the lightly-raced 6yo figures to be just as tough in 2010.   Can he do it again?   Stay tuned...