The great stallion Storm Cat, who was pensioned late in the 2008 breeding season because of fertility problems, has only three offspring in his final crop, and one is scheduled to be offered during the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling sale Aug. 2 and 3 in upstate New York. Named The Last Meow, the dark bay or brown filly is cataloged as Hip No. 153, which puts her in the second session of the auction. Taylor Made Sales Agency is her consignor.
“She’s got the Storm Cat body, which has a very chiseled kind of muscle pattern,” said Mark Taylor, Taylor Made’s vice president for public sales. “But she’s probably got a little bit more leg than some of the Storm Cat fillies that I’ve seen over the years, so she doesn’t look just like a little one-dimensional speedball; she looks like she can run two turns. She has a beautiful expression and a soft, classy eye. She’s just a sweet filly.”
The Last Meow got her name because her March 5 foaling date made her the last of the three Storm Cat offspring that were born in 2009. She is out of the 6-year-old Successful Appeal mare Richwoman, who captured the Debutante Stakes (gr. III) at Churchill Downs and the Cinderella Stakes at Hollywood Park in 2006 while running as a homebred for Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt’s Heiligbrodt Racing Stable.
In 2008, John Sikura’s Hill ‘n’ Dale Sales Agency consigned Richwoman to the Keeneland November breeding stock sale for the Heiligbrodts. The mare, which was carrying The Last Meow at the time, was bought back for $725,000. Town & Country Farms later purchased Richwoman privately and is the breeder of The Last Meow.
Town & Country is operated by the mother-daughter team of Louise and Kiki Courtelis. When Louise’s husband and Kiki’s father Alec was alive, the family was prominent in the Arabian horse business. Following Alec’s death, the Courtelises since have switched their focus to Thoroughbreds and their operation is based in Central Kentucky. Their farm in Florida is up for sale.
“Sometimes we do keep foals and race them ourselves, but primarily we want to breed good, strong babies and get them out there (in the marketplace) so someone else can race them,” said Louise Courtelis of the decision to sell The Last Meow. “Fasig-Tipton really wanted her for the (Saratoga) sale. Kiki is going to be there, but I won’t be because I had surgery on my foot. It’s a lot better, but it’s still troublesome to me.”
The Last Meow is the first foal out of Richwoman, who produced an Unbridled’s Song filly named A Rich Song earlier this year.
“She’s a darling filly,” said Courtelis of the Last Meow. “Someone is going to get a wonderful horse, and we hope she will run like the wind.”
The two other offspring in Storm Cat’s final crop are scheduled to be offered at the Keeneland September yearling sale. Denali Stud will consign the filly out of the stakes-placed winner Western Princess for the yearling’s breeder, Earle Mack. Hill ‘n’ Dale will consign a colt out of grade I winner Halo America. Hill ‘n’ Dale bred the yearling in partnership with Gaines-Gentry Thoroughbreds, Rancho San Miguel, and NTEP.