by Ed DeRosa

Terlingua, the dam of leading sire Storm Cat, was euthanized on Wednesday at the Young family’s Overbrook Farm in Lexington due to the infirmities of old age. She was 32.

Terlingua, a multiple Grade 2 winner by Secretariat, was one of the first broodmare prospects Overbrook founder W.T. Young purchased when he began his operation. Young owned several breeding seasons to Storm Bird, and he bred his mare to the Northern Dancer stallion after she produced a Lyphard filly in 1982. The resulting colt was Storm Cat.

“She meant a lot because she was one of the first mares Mr. Young bought. He wanted to breed her to Storm Bird, and thus the franchise of the farm [Storm Cat] was born,” said Ric Waldman, manager of stallion operations for Overbrook, which stands Storm Cat. “She meant a lot being the dam of Storm Cat, but she meant a lot, too, as one of the first mares Mr. Young bought.”

Terlingua’s first foal, Lyphard’s Dancer, went on to produce a stakes winner and a stakes producer. Her third foal, the Northern Dancer filly Chapel of Dreams, won two Grade 2 races, produced two stakes producers, and is the great grandam of Grade 1 winner Ticker Tape (GB).

Terlingua also produced sires Wheaton, by Alydar, and Pioneering, by Mr. Prospector. Her last foal, the Boston Harbor filly Final Legacy, just produced a Strong Hope filly and will be bred back to El Corredor.

Terlingua won seven of 17 starts and earned $423,896. Tom Gentry bred her in Kentucky out of the Grade 3-winning Crimson Satan mare Crimson Saint, dam of Group 1 winner and sire Royal Academy and Grade 2 winner and sire Pancho Villa.

Ed DeRosa is news editor of Thoroughbred Times