hi Maven...hi guys
Maven wrote:FOS wrote:hi Maven...hi all
Maven wrote: Storm Cat started off at 10k and free breeding were offered quite frequently to insure numbers got to him.
Storm Cat actually started off with an advertised stud fee of $30,000 (in 1988)...not $10,000, as you stated, Maven.
Maven wrote: I think your "memory" of how Storm Cat started is very fuzzy.
Seems to me Maven that you're "memory" of how Storm Cat started is VERY fuzzy. My recollection was that his initial advertised stud fee was in
the area of $20,000 (my words)...whereas you stated specifically (and authoritatively if I might add) that (and I quote you) "
Storm Cat started off at 10k..." (your words). No ifs ands or buts about it, you wrote that
"Storm Cat started off at 10k...".
Noting a comment as a
recollection (as I did) is one thing...but you etched your words in stone when you wrote (and I quote you again)
"Storm Cat started off at 10k..." (those were your exact words).
That said...I'd submit that you're memory of how Storm Cat started is not only VERY fuzzy...but also earns you the dubious distinction of being the first ever winner of the Fuzziest Memory Award.
Best to you.
Respectfully
The article you read is not correct (im aware of the one you referenced). I suggest you talk to Ric Waldman at Overbrook. They're proud of his humble beginnings and how he started. He's out today but will be in the office tomorrow, and Carmen is on vacation.
Maven, respectfully, I have no idea what article
YOU are referencing.
As for humble beginnings (your words)...if you want to talk humble beginnings, I'd say that Mr Prospector (who started his career at stud with an advertised stud fee of $7,500) was from humble beginnings (at stud). Early in his career, if you wanted a season to Mr Prospector, all you had to do was contact the cowboy that ran the farm (by the name of Pat Hunter)...you could book your mare with him too. I'd say that might be described as humble beginnings. I would submit that a good case could likely be made that Distorted Humor's stud career started relatively humbly also.
As for Storm Cat though...it seems (to me anyway) a HUGE stretch (on your part, or anyone's part for that matter) to
1/ describe a near-champion 2-yo G1 winning colt (Storm Cat), that was
2/ sired by a then very young Champion-son of Champion Northern Dancer (by the name of Storm Bird, who by the way was marketed, promoted and supported Big-Time...particularly in his early years at stud), and
3/ was out of a brilliant multiple G2 winning daughter of Secretariat by the name of Terlingua, and
4/ who retired to stud (and had a $30,000 stud fee tagged on him initially), and
5/ stood at the farm of his EXTREMELY successful/wealthy/well-liked-by-many owner...as coming from
humble beginnings.
Storm Cat's management might have
stumbled or
bumbled and maybe even shot themselves in the foot as a result of some of their decisions (including tagging their young stallion with a $30k stud fee) at the outset of his career...but I would argue that descibing Storm Cat as being/coming from
"humble beginnings" (your words) is (at the very least) extremely misleading.
It's pretty simple Maven. Storm Cat's stud fee in 1988 (his first year at stud) was $30,000. That's the actual number that was tagged on him. Now I'm not saying there might not have been concessions offered to some, but $30k was the number tagged on him (his first year at stud).
As Restrospectiv correctly indicated, Storm Cat stood for a "[i]1st first year $30,000 fee, which then dropped (in 1989) to $25,000..."
In subsequent years his advertised stud fee was as follows...
1990...$25,000
1991...$20,000 - SC's lowest-ever advertised stud fee (as Retrospectiv indicated)
1992...$25,000
1993...$35,000
1994...$60,000
1995...$100,000
1996...$125,000
1997...$150,000
1998...$150,000
and so on.
A glance at more recent Stallion Registers/Directories will show the progression of his advertised stud fee to the $500,000 level.
Best to you.
Respectfully
