Breathless Storm rerouted to Hawthorne Derby

Breathless Storm, the Kiaran McLaughlin-trained winner of the Jersey Derby on Haskell Day, will head to Hawthorne Race Course on Saturday, October 15 for the $200,000 Hawthorne Derby (G3), assistant trainer Andrew St. Lawrence said.

The 3-year-old son of Storm Cat who won a pair of races this summer at Monmouth Park was scheduled to run in last Saturday’s Kent Stakes (G3) at Delaware before that event was rained off the turf.

“The Kent was Plan A before the weather came,” St. Lawrence said.  “Now it looks like Plan B is the Hawthorne Derby.  The Jamaica [at Belmont on Oct. 8] is out there but that’s a Grade 1 for $250,000 and the race at Hawthorne is a Grade 3 for $200,000.”

Before shipping to Monmouth Park for the summer, Breathless Storm kicked off his 2011 campaign – following three 2010 races in England – with a fourth-place finish in an allowance race at Gulfstream Park.  The second-place finisher in that event was none other than eventual Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom.

“He’s a neat horse to have in the barn,” St. Lawrence said.  “He’s been improving with each and every race and that race in the Jersey Derby was really eye-opening.”