Polyhater...

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Originally Posted by Honu

Fragile horses , bad airways, bad feet , bad knees and bad attitudes. How many Storm Cats do you see run as 5 yr olds?

I remember Cornish Snow winning a stake race at age 8...he was also 2nd in the Tom Fool at age 7 to Trippi.

They bred Storm Cat to the spectacularly talented Mariah's Storm, who ran a (jointly held record for a mare) 120 Beyer Speed figure, a few years after suffering a horrifc broken leg in a KEE 2yo stake race.

The first result of that seemingly all-time mating of fragility produced a world class talent nicknamed "The Iron horse."

If a Storm Cat offspring is really any good, he or she is probably not going to be around racing as a 5-year-old because of economic reasons.

I'm not going to try and pretend that Storm Cat has done anything positive for the overall soundness and toughness of the breed---but, I can't possibly say that he is the reason horses aren't as sound and tough as they once were.

It's my gut feeling that the overuse of medications (illegal and more often legal) have had the biggest impact on why horses aren't nearly as sound as they should be.