Trombetta duo aims at Stormy Blues
Just Philtored, Hark Theangelssing both contenders
The Biz
June 13, 2026
Stakes racing returns to Laurel Park for the first time since the Preakness, and trainer Michael Trombetta will send out a pair of intriguing contenders in Sunday’s $100,000 Stormy Blues Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at six furlongs on the Bowl Game turf course.
Leading the charge is Red White and Blue Racing and London Reid Thoroughbreds’ Just Philtored, who already has proven her versatility. The daughter of Great Notion captured stakes races on both turf and dirt during her juvenile season and makes her second start of the year after finishing fifth in Aqueduct’s Take the A Train Stakes.
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Trombetta has long believed the grass may be her best surface.
“My gut feel with her, and time will prove it, is that she might be a better horse on the turf than she is on the dirt,” he said before Just Philtored went on to win the Maryland Juvenile Filly Stakes last December.
Listed at 5-1 on the morning line, Just Philtored will have Mychel Sanchez aboard as she looks to add another turf stakes victory to her résumé.
Stablemate Hark Theangelssing begins her sophomore campaign with plenty of upside. The gray homebred, campaigned by the Estate of R. Larry Johnson, showed a sharp late kick when rallying from last to win a first-level allowance over the Laurel turf last October. She then endured traffic trouble while finishing fourth in Aqueduct’s Stewart Manor Stakes, a race that later produced two next-out winners.
“She’s a little sassy, a little opinionated, like her mama,” Trombetta assistant Tana Aubrey said after that Laurel score. “She’s okay, this filly. She’s got a nice turn of foot. She quickens up.”
A daughter of Mendelssohn, Hark Theangelssing also carries deep ties to Johnson’s breeding program. Trombetta trained both of her first two dams, with granddam Kelly’s Question a turf sprint winner and dam Questionoftheday a three-time dirt sprint victor.
Ismerio Villalobos is named to ride the 6-1 morning-line choice.
The pair will have to contend with a competitive field headed by even-money favorite Only for Now, an impressive debut winner for trainer Miguel Clement, along with Brittany Russell’s consistent Tap Into Grace, multiple stakes-placed The Town Tempter, and turf stakes winner Gerrards Cross.
Slewperstitus, Niche, and Doc’s Miracle are entered for the main track only.
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