Prominent horse racing sires active in four different countries died in February. Notables Northern Baby, Is It True, and Roi Normand had stellar careers at stud.

Taking the good with the bad, the risk with the gift, is part of the life of a thoroughbred breeder. Several prominent breeding stallions died in February.

Island Storm

Island Storm was a gift. Dan and Julie Sturgeon bought the sire stallion in Illinois. In three bred crops, Island Storm became the significant breeder stallion for the Sturgeon's Northwin Stables in Michigan.

The Sturgeons were forced to euthanize their signature sire two weeks ago after a stall wall kicking incident left the horse with a fractured right hind pastern. Fractured in four places, the leg was an unmanageable injury for the Sturgeons.

Losing Island Storm was a crippling blow, but not a complete knockdown, for the Sturgeons. They are attempting to rebuild around Gainango, a six-year-old unproven stallion.

The 13-year-old Island Storm, the Sturgeons say, was the core to their breeding farm, and all their efforts in the business centered on him. He sired five winners from eight starters, getting two stakes winners from his first year.

His five winners earned $400,909. Weatherstorm, Island Storm's best son, has won eight of ten starts and earned $320,013. The four-year-old has consecutive wins in the Michigan Sire Stakes colt division.

The week of Island Storm's accident was a bad one for the Sturgeons. They had just lost Satin Storm, a four-year-old mare suffering from colic. Her 20-day-old filly occupied the Sturgeons prior to their discovery of Island Storm's fatal injury.

The Sturgeons are moving on, as breeders do, stepping back, they say, some five years, and beginning again.

Who Doctor Who

In Nebraska, the grade three and match race winner, Who Doctor Who, was euthanized at the age of 24 on February 22 due to incurable laminitis in his front feet.

The veteran gelding was a local and state icon in Nebraska largely idolized for his match race victory against Explosive Girl on July 23, 1988.

The $50,000 match race and its result left its mark in the state track circles and on Who Doctor Who trainer Herb Riecken. In-state pressure to win the event and out-of-state publicity was nerve rattling, Riecken recalls. It didn't shake up "The Doctor". The gelding's reputation only grew as he easily drew away in the stretch with jockey Tom Greer aboard and defeated his challenger, riden by Don Pettinger.

It didn't take Riecken long, he said, to decide that was the last of his match race agreements. But Riecken is happy that he had the chance to train Who Doctor Who and give the gelding a golden retirement. The bay gelding last raced in 1992. He got 21 of his 26 wins at Ak-Sar-Ben (now closed) track in Omaha.

Bred by Marvin Iverson, Who Doctor Who achieved a career record of 33 wins from 64 starts. He earned $813,870, second only for a Nebraska-bred to Dazzling Falls ($904,622).

Northern Baby

Canadian bred Northern Baby, by the great Northern Dancer out of the Round Table mare Two Rings, both notables in their own right, was euthanized February 21 at the age of 31. He was feeble with old age.

The stallion was retired at the Arthur B. Hancock Stone Farm in Paris, Kentucky, where he stood beginning in 1982. Previous to his arrival at the Stone Farm, Northern Baby was retired to stud in Ireland in 1981.

He sired four champions and 47 stakes winners. In July of 1977, Northern Baby was purchased at the Keeneland, Kentucky yearling sale.

Some of his grade one winners include: Michelozzo, Bairn, Live the Dream, Deposit Ticket, Rampage, and Double Wedge. He sired French champion miler Thrill Show, 1989 champion steeplechaser Highland Bud, 1994 champion steeplechaser Warm Spell, and 1995 champion turf female Possibly Perfect, a six-time grade one winner.

Northern Baby won the 1979 Epsom Derby (gr. l) of England, and won the '79 Champion Stakes (Eng. gr. l). Of 17 starts, he won five times, and placed, or was show in seven others. His earnings topped $329,900.

Is It True

An apparent heart attack took the life of Is It True February 22 at the age of 21 at Walmac Farm, Lexington, Kentucky. Out of the Proudest Roman mare Roman Rockettte, Is It True was sired by Raja Baba. In 15 racing crops, Is It True delivered 318 stakes winners from 439 starters. His best son, Yes It's True, won 11 of 21 career starts, earning $1,080,700 in three years.

Trained by the highly successful D.Wayne Lukas, Is It True won five races from 15 career starts. He earned $819,999. In 1988, the then two-year-old colt beat Easy Goer in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Easy Goer went on to win the 1989 Belmont Stakes, beating Sunday Silence out of a Triple Crown championship.

Yes It's True has sired four crops, including Proud Accolade, and boasts 18 stakes winners. At 11 years old, Yes It's True stands at Three Chimneys Farm in Midway, Kentucky for $35,000.

Roi Normand

The 24-year-old Roi Normand, a leading sire in Brazil, died of colic February 20 where he stood at the Jose Carlos Fragoso Pires Jr.'s Haras Santa Ana do Rio Grande since 1989.

Roi Normand's best son, Super Power, won Brazil's Triple Crown in 2000. In 15 crops, Roi Normand sired 338 winners that included 33 graded stakes winners.

Winning offspring of Roi Normand also include: Riboletta; Tutelada, 2000 champion filly in Brazil; grade one winning millionaire Redattore; and Ay Caramba, 2003 champion two-year-old colt in Brazil.

Fouls born in the fall of 2007 will represent Roi Normand's last crop. In his four years of racing, Roi Normand won five posts from 17 starts. In 1988 in the United States, he won the Hollywood Park's Sunset Handicap (gr. l) on turf and the Ark-La-Tex Handicap (gr. lll) at Louisiana Downs. His earnings list at $390,466.

Fappiano's Star

Standing in stud in Puerto Rico, Fappiano's Star sired 102 winners from 137 starters in nine crops. On February 21, the bay stallion died from complications of a kidney ailment.

During his six-year racing career, Fappiano's Star earned $212,041. He was bred in Kentucky at Deer Lawn Farm. He scored in the Louisiana Handicap in 1995, and entered stud in 1996.

His most notable offspring include: Estrella Dorada, Puerto Rico's 2000 champion filly; and 2005 three-year-old champion and Horse of the Year, Borrascoso.

Two times the leading sire in Puerto Rico, Fappiano's Star sired 222 foals that have total earnings of $5,021,519.