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Stephanie's Kitten surges late in Juvenile Fillies Turf
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| Stephanie's Kitten roared home to capture the Juvenile Fillies Turf
(Breeders' Cup Ltd.) |
Stephanie's Kitten came flying late to collar pacesetter Stopshoppingmaria in
deep stretch and surged to a three-quarter length victory in Friday's $909,000
Breeders'
Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Churchill Downs. Winner of the Grade 1 Alcibiades
Stakes on Keeneland's Polytrack in her previous start, the Ken and Sarah Ramsey
homebred was ridden by John Velazquez.
It was a tough beat for Stopshoppingmaria, who showed the way on a narrow
lead through fractions of :24 2/5. :50 3/5 and 1:15 3/5 before opening up on her
rivals in upper stretch. She led until the final yards, easily holding the place
over third-placer Sweet Cat.
Stephanie's Kitten relaxed off the pace in midpack during the early stages
and began to advance along the inside upon reaching the stretch. The daughter of
Kitten's Joy still had
plenty of work to do with a furlong remaining, but Velazquez guided the Wayne
Catalano-trained filly off the hedge and to the outside of Stopshoppingmaria,
and Stephanie's Kitten finished up dramatically. She stopped the teletimer over
the good turf in 1:38 4/5.
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"She was amazing," Velazquez said. "As soon as I asked her to go in between
those other two horses, she responded right away. It's nice when you can ride
horses like that. It makes it easy for us. She's game for anything I ask her to
do. That's what I like about her."
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| Stephanie's Kitten is named after her owner/breeder's granddaughter
(Patrick Tyrrell/Horsephotos.com) |
"I'm so happy for Mr. Ramsey," Catalano added. "He loves the game. And
winning is the thing for him, it's not even for the money. I got a little
nervous late, so I want to go and watch the replay. She ran her heart out."
Off as the 6-1 third choice among 14 two-year-old fillies, Stephanie's Kitten
paid $14.20, $6.60 and $5.20.
Irish shipper Up wound up fourth and was followed under the finish line by
Hard Not to Like, Somali Lemonade, Pure Gossip, 5-2 favorite Elusive Kate,
Dayatthespa, Royal Bonnie, Customer Base, My Gi Gi, Ann of the Dance and Dear
Lavinia.
A maiden winner of Arlington Park's turf in her second career outing,
Stephanie's Kitten recorded a third in the Grade 3 Natalma Stakes on Woodbine's
turf prior to the Alciabides. She has now earned $817,526 from a 5-3-0-2 line.
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Stephanie's Kitten RNAed twice in the sales ring, failing to meet her reserve
with a final bid of $30,000 at last year's Keeneland September and $17,000 in
this season's OBS Spring Sale of Two-Year-Olds in Training. She is out of the
unraced Catienus mare Unfold the Rose, who is herself a daughter of Grade 1
heroine Bail Out Becky.
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