After releasing the maiden tag in a driving finish over seven and a half furlongs (1,500m) in a good time of 1:34.3 on January 1, many, including the connections, had high hopes for Storm, but the three-year-old bay gelding has not shown much since then.

His performances after that first win have been way below par, forcing a bypassing of the three-year-old Classic races.

Since January 1, Storm has had eight starts, with all being poor runs except when he finished third by over three lengths behind Sir Puddington and Bad Boy Trump going 10 furlongs (2,000m) on May 12 — in the other seven runs he was completely out of the frame.

On Saturday Storm found a new lease on life to somewhat revive his career when he led almost every step of the way to win a Restricted Allowance (non-winners of two) event over nine furlongs and 25 yards (1,820m).

The Natural Selection bay gelding got the better of rivals by three and a quarter lengths in a time of 1:58.3. The splits were 28.0 x 53.0 x 1:17.4 x 1:44.1.

“He has promised so much, but Storm has not delivered. We tried everything with him and then we decided to try not working him. Since his last two races we have not galloped him in-between and we saw last time, going five and a half furlongs, he was coming on in the finish, so we basically did the same thing again — that is no work, no gallops in-between races and it paid off today (Saturday),” DaCosta revealed about his strategy with Storm.

Ackee Pie (Dick Cardenas) was the first to show on the lead after leaving the starting gates, but as soon as the runners made their way around the Clubhouse Turn, Storm (Anthony Thomas) took over ahead of Council Of Trent (Oneil Beckford) with Ackee Pie in third.

Council Of Trent surpassed Storm leaving the six-furlong (1,200m) point, but Storm surged to the lead once again approaching the half-mile turn and that was it.

Although Innovator (Omar Walker) tried to challenge in deep stretch, that was in vain as Storm was not for catching. Innovator held on for second, with Vikuna (Kerry-Gayl Robinson) third and Ackee Pie fourth.

“The performance was a little bit better than average. He was there early in the lead and when challenged at the top of the straight he found extra, so I am pleased with the performance. He is a type of horse that runs when he feels like, so let’s see if he can change his ways here,” DaCosta shared.