Too Tough To Catch was laid to rest on April 1 at his home, Snow Ranch in Gainesville, Texas.

By Leann Noguera, StallioneSearch

GAINESVILLE, TX—APRIL 1, 2026—Too Tough To Catch, a stakes winner and sire who had been pensioned last year at Snow Ranch in Gainesville, Texas, was laid to rest April 1 following complications from founder and laminitis. He was 22.

The son of Corona Cartel had been purchased by Snow Ranch in 2024, where he spent his final year in retirement. When the decision was made to pension him, owner Shane Snow emphasized the stallion’s well-earned rest. “He’s too old to do it anymore and deserves to live his life out,” Snow said at the time.

“It was a hard decision, but it was time,” Snow said of having him laid to rest. “We just wanted to do right by him, and we’re going to miss him.”

From a limited number of starters across 15 crops to reach racing age, Too Tough To Catch proved a productive sire, with progeny earnings surpassing $1 million and an average of more than $14,000 per starter.

Among his top performers were Bye Bye Corona SI 99 (4 wins, $103,969, Superior Race Horse), Tf Corona N Passion SI 99 (6 wins, $84,956, winner of the Virgil Bond 870 Stakes and Marathon Stakes, 2n in the Magnolia Stakes), and Mr Black Jet SI 103 (5 wins, $75,738, finalist in the Gillespie County Fair Futurity).

Additional winners included Too Tough Adash SI 98 ($72,395), Tough Enuff SI 97 ($56,136), and Toast To Catch SI 95 ($49,025, finalist in the Lee Berwick Futurity-G1 and Mardi Gras Futurity-RG2).

He is a son of the #2 all-time living leading sire Corona Cartel SI 100 ($557,142), who has sired 202 stakes winners, 10 champions, and earners of more than $73 million.

Too Tough To Catch is out of the stakes-placed Easily Smashed mare Hotsie Tootsie SI 93 ($20,713), a multiple black-type producer including Grade 2 winner Corona Fireball SI 101 ($181,112, Oklahoma Futurity-G2) and RG3-placed Snow Ridge SI 96 ($18,492).

The second dam, the stakes-placed Sinn Fein mare Coleen Of Sinn SI 97, produced stakes winner Footprince SI 111 ($72,382), RG3 winner Trickie Lassie SI 97 ($43,029), stakes winner Roving Legacy SI 93, and multiple stakes-placed runners. She is also the granddam of stakes horses Trick On The Run SI 103 ($86,816), The Corona SI 101 ($51,607), Ira Runner SI 103 ($47,358), and Brags Hero SI 108 ($42,658), among others.

Bred in Oklahoma by Pine Ridge Farm, LLC, Too Tough To Catch won or placed in 10 of 15 starts and earned $152,124. He captured the Easy Jet Stakes and finished second in the Speedhorse Gold and Silver Cup Futurity (G1), third in the Oklahoma Derby (G3), and was a finalist in the Heritage Place Derby (G2).

Snow said the focus in the end was simply giving the horse the care he deserved. “He was a special horse that touched our family's hearts, and all we wanted was to do right by him.” 

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