eeks i NEED to get morgan in here lol. her and i debate this sort of thing all the time damn (and it's fun bc of course it's all opinion!).
see i've heard storm cat isn't that hot - but i tend towards hotter.
2 of my tbs are War Deputy/Crimson Satan horses which are hot, and can be nasty. Harvard Man offspring isn't nasty but can be flighty ime.
Sky Wars Horse Pedigree
however i love them - sky is a kickass hunter pace horse & jumper and opal is a great eventer and jumper. both can be complete spazzes, and strong willed, both are buckers and rearers (not mean anymore now that they are over 10 haha but they still have it in them and aren't afraid to voice their opinions when they disagree with something). but both are amazingly athletic and will try their heart out for you when you have a connection with them and you're doing something they love. i'd say something with a little less fire would be better for eventing so that you can have better brains there haha. but they both move amazingly (opal approved Old NA Main Mare book just a few points away from premium) and sky - well here...
Sunday Silence was amazing with a good temperament, yet most other Halo offspring are not (and SS babies are hard to find as he stood at stud in japan). i'd kill for an SS baby - not just because of his reputation, but because of his heart and athleticism and because i grew up watching him race and will never forget seeing his preakness win - and his breeder's cup classic win. in all of his starts he was never less than 2nd, and him and easy goer had a rivalry for the ages. i was always upset that he just missed the triple crown!
my fave race pics are from this season (with the exception of secretariat of course) - the slightly larger easy goer, to the smaller, scrappier, bigger heart (imo) sunday silence.
it was riveting watching them go stride for stride in the stretch with unreal timing - legs moving identically yet again! i was screaming at the tv in excitement! sunday silence won by a nose.
look at that finish you can barely see there are two horses there - it was unreal!!
so back to halo - i like them and sunday silence def had some fire to him, but stay away from ANYTHING silver ghost. a friend of mine said he's had experience with his offspring and they are nasty. SG himself needs multiple handlers and is a nightmare from what i've been told to get him to the breeding shed. ugh.
damascus and buckpasser i have seen some nice hunters from and cherokee run had an offspring (wish i could remember his registered name) that was leggy, 17h, flat kneed mover that cleaned up rated hunters. nice looking totally calm boy too!
for eventers i think it's so much about heart - and less about bloodlines. if sky didn't hate eventing he'd be amazing. (yeah i know he loves hunter paces - don't ask. i did mention he's slightly psychotic right?! we once dq'd from a rater jumper show for lack of forward movement bc he just froze and had a temporary brain explode moment and stood stock still... *sigh* but as long as we do paces now he's insanely happy and will do some shows here and there haha). his sister is a nut on paces, but is willing to event and gamey as hell over jumpers. both are unbelievably athletic. i stay away from horses with short speed (7 furlongs and less) as to me that usually shows speed with lack of stamina and that can work for jumpers but i want a horse for eventing that can hold their own and not peter out on me. i'll check race records of first 2 gens to see length of races and results and get an idea of past perf and go from there.
for eventers i look at heart, bone (not a fan of lighter built tbs anyway regardless of height) and check lines to see if i can find info on soundness. the hard thing with TBs is so many race a handful of times and are retired and never tested to see what their longevity really is - so in essence we're breeding tons of horses that we have no idea if they will be sound or not long term. finding lines with history of longevity speak monuments to me when it comes to eventing.
also for research i use
equibase.com
brisnet.com
pedigreequery.com
and of course lots of google searches and a few other sites that have race horse history!