Meet the Parents

TABBY LANE (Photo: Wendy Wooley)

EASTWOOD DACAT (Photo: Bleu Valley Farm)

Tabby Lane is going to be a mother.  Many of her partners decided that the breeding end of the business was not for them but a few of us will soldier on and we’ll see what we can do with her.  At first blush we really thought we would have to send her Kentucky to find a stallion that nicked up with her nicely.  And matings I tried ended up with a “C” rating or worse.  Then we found a local Storm Cat son that matched up really well for a fraction of the costs of a Kentucky sire and none of the transportation: Eastwood Dacat (Storm Cat- Western Eternity- Gone West)

Eastwood Dacat had a promising debut at 3 at Oaklawn Park where he had led the field for a while in a Maiden Special Weight sprint before finishing 3^rd, beaten only 1 ¼ and earning a debut Beyer of 67.  All seemed poised for a strong second start but something went wrong.  There was no zip in the race at all and he was badly beaten…and injured.  The decision was made to retire him and try and pass along some of those Storm Cat/Gone West genes down the line.  That would have been the end of the story except when he arrived at Bleu Valley Farm in Minnesota, the young stallion showed plenty of zip and that got folks thinking.  Eastwood Dacat tried to come back one more time at five.  He was brought along slowly and led a MSW field at Hawthorne through the turn and then faltered badly.  Reinjured, he was brought back to Bleu Valley and now will try to establish himself as a stallion.

We bought the season to him at the Minnesota Thoroughbred Association's Stallion Services Auction and Tabby will head over to Dove Hill, who will be handling his season, in February to be covered.  Their progeny will be eligible for the 2017 MTA Stallion Services Auction Stakes – hopefully a black type affair by then.

The mating was rated by Werk as an A and the blend of her stamina, remarkable stability and desire to win (25% of her starts) combined with his speed should give us a nice foal.  For you pedigree folks out there here are some of the particulars:

Dosage Index: 4.0

Center of Distribution: 1.0

Werk Quality Rating: Q7 (total points 34)

5-Generation Inbreeding: GONE WEST - 3f x 4m NORTHERN DANCER - 4m, 4f x SECRETARIAT - 4f, 5f x

Stakes winners from the Storm Cat/Unbridle’s Song cross include:

A SHIN TOP                         2010 C   G2

ALPHA KITTEN                  2006 F   G2

BUTTERFLY SOUL             2010 F  

ELUSIVE LADY                  2005 F   G3

ETCHED                               2005 C   G2

HOLD ME BACK                 2006 C   G2

MEAL PENALTY                 2005 C

NECESSARY EVIL              2007 F   G3

ONCE WERE WILD             2006 F

OUT OF BOUNDS                2009 C   G3

PUISSANCE DE LUNE        2008 C   G3

WILD BOUT TIFFANY        2008 F

You will, of course, be subjected to following the progress right here as the time passes!