Storm Cat
Leading sire and Grade 1 winner Storm Cat was euthanized on Wednesday at the Young family’s Overbrook Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, at the age of 30 due to complications from infirmities of old age.
A son of Storm Bird out of the stakes-winning Secretariat mare Terlingua, Storm Cat was bred and raced by William T. Young. During his racing career he captured the Young America and finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Stakes in 1985 on the way to $570,610 in career earnings.
Storm Cat retired from racing in 1987 to stand stud at Overbrook Farm. Breeding his first book of mares in 1988 at a stud fee of $30,000, he was pensioned in 2008 after a 20-year stud career that saw his fee rise to as high as $500,000.
He sired earners of over $127 million, eight champions and 108 graded stakes winners, including winners of the Preakness, Belmont, Kentucky Oaks and five Breeders’ Cup races, ranking second on the all-time Breeders’ Cup sire list, along with numerous European Group 1 races. He topped the general sire list twice, the juvenile sire list a record seven times and was leading broodmare sire in 2012.
462 of his yearlings sold at public auction for over $319 million including 91 yearlings which brought $1 million or more. By comparison, his grandsire Northern Dancer ranked second with 52 yearlings which brought $ 1 million or more.
Forest Wildcat was another very consistent stallion, who proved popular in the sales ring. His 69 stakes winners include Wildcat Heir (a former leading first crop sire in the US), and South Africa’s outstanding sire Var. Forest Wildcat is also the broodmare sire of promising young Australian sire prospect and G1 winner, Foxwedge (William Reid S).
Storm Cat is also represented by a number of promising and proven sires in South Africa, through the likes of Black Minnaloushe, Brave Tin Soldier, Carpocrates, Mogok andTiger Ridge, to name a few.
While it is clear that Storm Cat’s name will be around in pedigrees of top-class thoroughbreds for years to come, it remains to be seen how deep his legacy will be, and which of his grandsons will prove his true heir.
Storm Cat retired from active stud duties in 2008 and led a quiet life at Overbrook Farm. His schedule included daily care from Eduardo Terrazas, his original stallion manager, and regular visits from his life-long veterinarian, Dr. Robert Copelan.
“Storm Cat was a once-in-a-lifetime horse and the key to the success that Overbrook Farm enjoyed. My father often said that Storm Cat made him look like a genius,” Overbrook Farm owner William T. Young Jr. said.
Ric Waldman, who managed Storm Cat’s stud career said, “Storm Cat was a major impact sire — a major impact on the future of the breed and a major impact on the lives of those of us at Overbrook.”
Storm Cat was buried at Overbrook Farm.
