From stuck on left leg to left-field contender: Stormy Grove storms into calculations for the 2026 BMW Hong Kong Derby

Stormy Grove’s climb from raw talent with unrefined racing manners to a genuine leftfield BMW Hong Kong Derby hope has taken a decisive step, with connections paying the second-stage late entry fee of HK$104,000 after the four-year-old’s explosive “last to first” win at Sha Tin on Sunday.

Trainer Frankie Lor Fu-chuen said the gelding has improved sharply since settling into local  conditions – specifically an adjustment to racing right-handed – has cost him at key stages.

“He keeps improving,” Lor said. “When he comes to Hong Kong, he looks… he was used to looking for the rail on his left-hand side. We needed plenty of time to teach him… I think every start he keeps improving but this time he gave me a big surprise.”

From barrier 14, jockey Harry Bentley dropped Stormy Grove out to last and relied on the horse’s finish, producing a powerful sprint to round up Without Compare in a race that did not appear to suit backmarkers.

Stormy Grove ripped home in a monster 21.85 seconds for the final 400 metres, including a slick 10.62 seconds from the 400m to the 200m, to underline the upside Lor has been trying to unlock.

“He was more straightforward. Easier to ride,” Bentley said. “He didn’t pull, which was great. He relaxed into things nicely and he handled the bend well without hanging… and we were able to put his best foot forward today.”

Bentley said previous starts had been compromised by the gelding’s tendency to drift under pressure – including a nose defeat to Lucky Sam Gor two runs back.

“He was narrowly beaten… and I came away feeling like he probably just gave it away in the dying strides when he was hanging left,” Bentley said. “Last time again… his hanging just got him unstuck a little bit and he wasted an awful lot of energy trying to go left up the straight and around the bend.”

Stormy Grove had raced twice in Victoria before arriving in Hong Kong, where tracks are run counter-clockwise, and it took time to adjust to the clockwise “Hong Kong way of going” (as in the north eastern Australian states New South Wales and Queensland. Lor’s team have been working through that adaptation alongside the horse’s racing manners – and Sunday suggested the lessons are finally sticking.

Stormy Grove went up eight points when re-assessed by handicappers today to a new mark of 76. That rise is expected to leave him hovering around the Derby bubble on ratings, but with officials anticipated to place significant weight on form when shaping the final field, another similarly strong performance could make him difficult to ignore in a year where depth beyond the leading handful is thin. 

Stormy Grove is expected to be among the entries for the Four-year-old Classic Series’ next leg, the Hong Kong Classic Cup (1,800m) at Sha Tin on March 1, though he may narrowly miss the cut for the final field.

Lor, who won the 2019 Hong Kong Derby with Furore, also has stablemate Numbers as a leading contender this season after his dominant G3 Centenary Vase win last weekend – but Stormy Grove’s sudden leap forward has given the stable a second, compelling Derby storyline.

For Bentley, the performance suggested Stormy Grove has more to offer now that the pieces are coming together.

“You only have to look at him to know he’s a lovely stamp of a horse,” Bentley said. “It just felt like we’re scratching the surface with what he’s done so far… there should be more to come.”