Tabasco Cat

Thoroughbred racehorse infobox
horsename = Tabasco Cat


caption =
sire = Storm Cat
grandsire = Storm Bird
dam = Barbicue Sauce
damsire = Sauce Boat
sex = Stallion
foaled = 1991
country = United States flagicon|USA
colour = Chestnut
breeder = Overbrook Farm & David P. Reynolds
owner = Overbrook Farm
trainer = D. Wayne Lukas
record = 18: 8-3-2
earnings = $2,347,671
race = San Rafael Stakes (1994)
El Camino Real Derby (1994)
Kentucky Cup Classic Handicap (1994)

American Classic Race wins:
Preakness Stakes (1994)
Belmont Stakes (1994)
awards=
honours =
updated= June 13, 2007

Tabasco Cat (1991-2004) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. The son of Storm Cat, who in 2006 became the world's most expensive stallion, he was out of the mare Barbicue Sauce. He was bred on a foal share partnership between Overbrook Farm owner William T. Young and Reynolds Metals Chairman, David P. Reynolds.

Trained by D. Wayne Lukas and ridden by jockey Pat Day, Tabasco Cat's most important win as a 2-year-old came in the Fort Springs Stakes at Keeneland. In his last race of 1993, the colt finished third to winner Brocco in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. The following spring, in the run-up to the 1994 U.S. Triple Crown series, Tabasco Cat won January's San Rafael Stakes and the El Camino Real Derby in March then was beaten by Brocco again when he finished second to the Albert R. Broccoli colt in the Grade I Santa Anita Derby.

Tragically, in December 1993, Tabasco Cat seriously injured Jeff Lukas who worked for his father as an assistant trainer. In a shedrow accident at Santa Anita Park, the colt broke loose and when Jeff Lukas tried to stop him, the excited horse slammed into him with such force that it fractured his skull and left him in a coma for several weeks. Although he recovered well enough to eventually return to work for a time, he suffered permanent brain damage.

1994 Triple Crown

Sent to Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby, Tabasco Cat was sent off at more than 9:1 odds as the bettors third choice. Owner/trainer Warren A. Croll, Jr. had the heavy favorite in Holy Bull, with second choice going to Tabasco Cat's California nemesis, Brocco. At the start of the Kentucky Derby, eventual longshot winner Go for Gin ducked out, forcing Tabasco Cat into another horse. Although the colt recovered and rider Pat Day got him to within striking distance of the frontrunners, the incident took too much out of him. He tired in the stretch run and wound up finishing in sixth place. Rival Brocco finished fourth and Holy Bull finished a shocking twelfth.

Tabasco Cat went on to win the next two legs of the U.S. Triple Crown series, capturing both the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course and the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park. Go for Gin proved his Derby win was no fluke, finishing second in both races. In the fall of 1994, Tabasco Cat defeated Best Pal in winning the 1994 Kentucky Cup Classic Handicap. He finished third behind Holy Bull and Concern in the Travers Stakes and was second to the latter in the Breeders' Cup Classic.

Retired to stud duty after his 3-year-old season, Tabasco Cat sired several stakes winners at Overbrook Farm. Among his notable offspring was the colt, Snow Ridge, the multiple stakes winning filly, Habibti, and another filly, Island Sand who earned more than $1.1 million and won several stakes races including the Grade I Acorn Stakes.

In the fall of 2000, Tabasco Cat was sold to the Japan Bloodstock Breeders' Association and stood at their Shizunai Stallion Station until 2004 when he died at age thirteen from a heart attack while in the breeding shed. In all, Tabasco Cat sired twenty-one stakes race winners.

References

* [http://www.pedigreequery.com/tabasco+cat Tabasco Cat's pedigree and racing stats]
* [http://www.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=21116 Tabasco Cat's obituary at Bloodhorse.com]