Moore Tornado Horse Survivor Wins At Remington Park

About 150 horses were among the casualties of the May 20 tornado, but one of the few survivors is a horse now named, Storm To Remember.

Wednesday, September 3rd 2014, 6:19 pm

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Moore Tornado Horse Survivor Wins At Remington Park

About 150 horses were among the casualties of the May 20 tornado, but one of the few survivors is a horse now named, Storm To Remember.

From the very beginning, Storm To Remember seemed like a long shot.

“He was an orphan,” trainer Kenneth Nolen said.

Then, on May 20, he was at Celestial Acres by the Orr family farm when the tornado struck.

“I was actually watching it on TV, and his owner called me and said we lost our horse,” Nolen recalled.

Yet, Nolen was hedging his bets.

“I think it was Channel 9 flying by in the helicopter," said Nolen. They showed the shot, and I seen one barn, and it was still standing.”

As luck would have it, Storm To Remember was in that one barn.

“I said he might not be alive, but the barn is still standing,” said Nolen. “We got lucky, and he was alive.”

The trauma of what the young colt had been through seemed to linger.

“If something really gets him scared, he gets bad scared, just doesn't get a little bit,” Nolen said.

On his first race last December, something spooked Storm To Remember in the starting gate, and he never performed up to his potential.

Then last Wednesday, Nolan decided to give the gelding another shot. This time, there was no fear.

Storm To Remember easily defeated the other contenders by about six lengths and finally beat the odds.

Storm To Remember was six to one odds in that race and earned $20,395. He will probably race again in a couple weeks.