STORM
Lactic acid – friend or foe?
STORM is an exciting breakthrough for competitive horses, allowing your equine athletes to maintain top speed for a few extra seconds by supporting the muscle’s natural ability to buffer lactic acid buildup – thereby delaying the onset of fatigue.
Scientists thought years ago that creatine would be this magic bullet, but 3 separate studies have confirmed the equine gut is unable to absorb this compound – that is emphatically NOT the case with the primary ingredient of STORM – the amino acid beta-alanine.
Genetics largely dictates the amount of carnosine naturally occurring in your horse’s muscles. Diet provides small amounts of beta alanine to support muscle carnosine synthesis. But prominent British scientists have discovered that the muscles of the horse can carry much more carnosine by supplementing the diet with beta alanine in a bioavailable form.
Pretty simple: more carnosine equals a greater ability to counteract lactic acid buildup.
STORM: When sustained speed counts.
ThoroEdge is an authorized distributor of STORM.
Depending on volume, STORM costs as little as $3 per day per horse.
You can make your purchase securely with a credit/debit card at our website:
STORM is manufactured by Racing Blue: ‘Designed by Nature, Improved by Science’
UPDATE 1:
From a satisfied customer, owner of recent maiden winner Color Cam:
“Our first breeze at Palm Meadows was below average (0.51, 4F) and the trainer commented that he looked “short”. I purchased STORM and we started him on the supplement when we shipped north to PARX race course; recently I have tracked him routinely galloping about “2:10-2:20 miles” without exertion.
His last breeze at 48.33 (4F) did not tax him a little bit and we went 6.5F on Sunday in a Mdn 25K race (4th race 3/25/12 at Parx). His burst of speed at the sixteenth pole was truly amazing where he overcame 3 lengths and won by 4 “going away”.
STORM will be a foundation of supplementation for my thoroughbreds in training.”
Video of the race above can be found here:
http://thoroedge.wordpress.com/2012/03/30/storming-home-a-maiden-winner-color-cam-at-parx/
UPDATE 2: Another Kane entry named Farmer Jones worked the fastest 3F of his life at Belmont this morning in 35.82 – a true Bullet at Belmont! The first timed effort of the year, no less. Farmer Jones is a router and historically an average worker by the stopwatch, so look for his 2012 debut later this Spring on the East Coast.
UPDATE 3: Farmer Jones fires another bullet at Belmont, this time going 4F in 48.04, fastest at the distance yet again.
UPDATE 4: Another STORM horse, this one in Canada, breezes the fastest 4F of his career – one week before making his first start of 2012 and placing 3rd in a $70k allowance race behind 2 stakes horses – he was just claimed 2 starts ago for $12,500.
UPDATE 5: So how are those bullet works translating to racetrack success? One of our colts firing bullets in the morning just came within 0.5sec of the track record for 5F in his maiden victory, going wire to wire, winning by 15+ lengths and never feeling the stick. Congrats to the connections!
UPDATE 6: Finally we see a horse on STORM that had NOT been suddenly clocking fast works in the mornings, so how did he fare in his 2011 debut? Not too badly, makes an aggressive middle move on his way to a strong second place finish (at 14-1), just beaten a head by the same horse that beat him 6 months ago by 10 lengths….and this horse had a start under his belt this season, while ours was fresh off a 6 month layoff. Exacta paid $66!-
UPDATE 7: Big day today as STORM horses captured over $11,000 in earnings. Here is the tally after the first 6 weeks of racing:
*10 starts, 2 wins, 2 places, 3 shows – $49,552 in earnings
*2 maiden winners
*3 longshots hit the board at 14-1, 17-1, and 18-1, respectively.
(Note that some trainers have only a portion of their string on STORM, but since I don’t know which ones are being supplemented, I don’t count them in these totals.)
UPDATE 8: So, how did Farmer Jones fare in his first effort of 2012? A troubled 2nd by a nose at 18-1 vs. a very competitive field at Monmouth. He rallies from 20 lengths off the pace to finish 2nd after getting impeded down the lane.
Video here for the time being: http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/race/USA/MTH/2012/5/12/8/race-8
UPDATE 9: How do horses come out of races while running on STORM? Quite well thus far as our Canadian sprinter just won his 2nd race in 8 days after jumping from MSW company straight to the allowance level and carrying high weight. Two wire to wire wins over dirt in just over a week. Once again, congrats to the connections.
UPDATE 10: From the ‘when second place isn’t so bad’ department: Farmer Jones scored a career best 87 Beyer in his 2012 debut effort. His 2011 debut off a similar layoff produced a 50 Beyer. Best career Beyer prior to STORM? 77.
UPDATE 11: STORM wins award for ‘best new supplement’ from UK based organization of equine experts: http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/tradenews/7544/311603.html
“This supplement is truly innovative and backed by impressive research, including species specific trials,” said the judges. “Without a doubt, it is an extremely beneficial addition to the diet of all performance horses.”
UPDATE 12: Now we are getting to where our STORM infused runners are making their 2nd starts of the year, how do they bounce back? Works-wise, a strong 3rd place finisher in his debut came back for his first post-race work and fired a 4F/:47 bullet, tops at the distance of 16 trainees that morning. Good stuff – he’s entered this weekend.
UPDATE 13: The one above wins, as does another, this week. 2 STORM runners, 2 winners, over $35k in purses!
One trainer has had all his string on STORM since Day 1 of this season. He’s been training for 10+ years with over 1,000 starts and $3 million in purses, pre-STORM. That works out to $3,043 per start lifetime, adding STORM in 2012 has improved that figure to $7,938 per start. Granted, the sample size thus far is small, but I expect these numbers to hold throughout the year.
Random thought of the day: STORM comes from Europe and has been in development since 1999 – during that time over 1,000 horses in various disciplines have competed while dosing this patented form of beta-alanine. However, early returns show STORM being much more effective in the US, where our racing style is quite different.
Throughout Europe, mainly on turf, the final quarter of a race is always faster than the first – the complete opposite of the US where initial quarters for 6F races routinely go in 22 – and the final quarter in 24. The US style of racing over dirt is harder on horses, and requires quite a bit more lactic acid buffering – which makes complete sense in light of what I have experienced so far = 12 starts, 4 wins, 2 places, 3 shows. $76,776 in earnings.
UPDATE 14: Slow week, 2 runners – 1 scratched when race taken off turf, the other was a favorite that missed the break from the gate and rushed up to finish 3rd.
But, a classy STORM runner named Greatful Heir, off a disappointing 5th place in his 2012 debut just came back and worked 5F in 59 flat at Monmouth, tops of 43 at that distance. Prior to his last start, his breezes were routinely middle of the pack as judged by the stopwatch, so look for a much improved effort in June. That makes 2 STORM runners who, after their first starts of the year, came back to breeze bullet works in the first race afterwards this week – one of my favorite handicapping angles.
UPDATE 15: From a client: “Just wanted to send you a note. My filly has been on Storm for a month now and I put my first 3/8ths work into her. She went an easy 3/8ths in :38 which is about 1.5 seconds quicker than anything she did last year. I have gotten a good 30 days of consistent work from her which is a big help but there is no doubt that the supplement is making a difference as well.”
Wow, carnosine is MUCH more important to a horse than a human:
Traditionally, the importance of carnosine as a physicochemical buffer in human skeletal muscle has been largely ignored, because various calculations and measurements have designated its relative contribution to only 8–15% of total buffer capacity (Hill et al. 2007; Parkhouse et al. 1985; Hultman and Sahlin 1980). Indeed, in various other vertebrates the HCD contribute more in both absolute and relative terms (Abe 2000). In the middle gluteal muscle of the thoroughbred horse, for example, the carnosine concentration is 6.7-fold higher than in human vastus lateralis, increasing its relative contribution to total buffer capacity to 30.6% (Harris et al. 1990; Sewell et al. 1992).
Simply put: traditional bicarbonate milkshakes buffer lactic acid in the blood, and are short acting, therefore testable pre or post race.
STORM buffers lactic acid via the muscles (carnosine), and is therefore not detectable in bloodwork. Also, the effects of STORM are present in every training gallop and breeze, after 4-6 weeks of regular 2x daily dosing.
What happens if you feed a horse carnosine instead of beta-alanine? Nothing.
In order to form carnosine the horse must combine available beta-alanine and histidine during cellular processes. There is plenty of histidine to go around, beta-alanine is the weak point in this chain – and therefore must be supplemented externally.
This is what thrills me about STORM: we are positively affecting a genetically set parameter, in this case stored muscular carnosine.
Carnosine, and subsequent buffering of the hydrogen ions introduced from lactic acid during intense muscular contractions, is key to equine performance. Horses are born with genetically determined amounts of the protein, but STORM can guarantee maximal levels through supplementation.
If I understand you correctly, you are stating that racing performance is enhanced, not only by superior conditioning methods you advocate, but also by the addition of STORM to the horses program, the latter through its lactic acid buffering capabilities. In erssence, then, you are advocating what you consider to be a “performance enhancing drug.” I’m a little confused here, but then I’m told that I’m easily confused! Many of us are working towards eliminating drugs from he racing picture and you are here advocating a new and better “milkshake” Am I misunderstanding your concept?
STORM is comprised of beta-alanine, an amino acid that is one of the many building blocks of protein. It combines with histidine, another naturally occurring amino acid, in the body – where the end product is carnosine, yet another amino acid that is stored within muscle. No naturally occurring element, such as beta-alanine, is a ‘drug’ in my book, but you are certainly free to anoint it as such. Beta-alanine is also found in any performance horse’s diet, just in very minute amounts.
All athletes take extra protein (amino acids) in their diets, either through eating chicken breasts or taking a powder/pill supplement – in order to facilitate muscle repair. STORM is added twice a day to the feed ration and takes 4-6 weeks to exert any noticeable performance effects.
I liken the effects to the ‘milkshake’, because that is a commonly known performance enhancer. In fact, it worked so well it is now illegal. STORM works better than the milkshake, is not tubed down a horses gullet, is comprised of elements found in nature, and therefore will never be designated illegal.
It’s precisely the same as eating a bowl of cereal before you go for a run in the morning. I am also anti-Lasix and anti-Bute, for the record.
Here is detail on an award presenting to STORM over in the UK from a panel of equine experts:
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/tradenews/7544/311603.html
You won’t see any real drug such as Lasix earn such respect.
I thought we were supposed to be eliminating any drugs or aids in racing that would give one horse an edge over another…?
You need to read all the details, this is a protein and carbohydrate formula, 100% natural and just happens to aid performance. STORM is an award-winning product from the UK, where raceday drugs are not allowed. STORM makes the demands of racing easier on a horse by supporting cellular processes with the natural building blocks of nutrition.
Why would I forbid you from eating a bowl of cereal with milk prior to racing in a 5K?
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