by Jeff Lowe

Nightstorm, the dam of 2007 Wood Memorial Stakes (G1) winner Nobiz Like Shobiz, was euthanized on November 20 after fracturing her leg in a paddock accident at Three Chimneys Farm in Midway, Kentucky.

The 13-year-old Storm Cat mare out of Halo¹s Daughter, by Halo, was in foal to Bernardini, owner-breeder Elizabeth Jones Valando said on January 2.

Nightstorm produced a Eurosilver filly in February.

Valando bred Nightstorm exclusively to Fly So Free from 1998 to 2002 until she sent the winning mare to Albert the Great in ¹03‹the mating that produced Nobiz Like Shobiz.

In two seasons, Nobiz Like Shobiz has compiled six graded stakes wins—three on dirt and three on turf—and earned $1,544,730 for Valando and trainer Barclay Tagg.

"She¹s certainly a wonderful mare," Valando said. "I think she was just sort of hitting her stride. I kept breeding her to Fly So Free, and I don¹t think she really fit him. He was short of mares, and I wanted to [support him]." Valando's late husband, Thomas, raced Fly So Free, the champion two-year-old male of 1990. Fly So Free died in 2003 at age 15.

"They were both great horses. That¹s the sad part of the business, when you lose your babies like that," Valando said. "It¹s bad enough when they live their lives out, but it's really bad when they're still young." Valando owns two young broodmares by Fly So Free out of Nightstorm. A three-year-old filly by Changeintheweather out of Nightstorm is approaching her career debut.

Bred in Kentucky, Nightstorm won one of six career starts and earned $39,310.

Valando said Nobiz Like Shobiz resumed light training at Palm Meadows Training Center in early January after receiving a break following his eighth-place finish as the favorite in the Hollywood Derby (G1) on November 25.

Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer