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Holiday for Kitten could try Turf Sprint; Majestic City mulls Juvenile Turf

Trainer Wesley Ward said that Ken and Sarah Ramsey's homebred Holiday for Kitten was "fantastic" the morning after she defeated 10 older rivals to win the Grade 2 Thoroughbred Club of America at odds of 18-1. With the victory, the three-year-old Kitten's Joy filly earned a spot in the starting gate for the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint to be run November 4 at Churchill Downs.

"Mr. Ramsey is a sportsman and I'll talk it over with the boss," Ward said about Holiday for Kitten's next start.

"I don't know if he'll go in that race or possibly against the boys on the grass. She's a tremendous sprinter and she's really certain to come into herself right now. It's late in her three-year-old season. She beat the older fillies in the spring and yesterday and maybe she could beat the boys a month from now."

The race against the boys is the five-furlong Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint on November 5.

In the meantime, Ward said that Holiday for Kitten would remain at Keeneland and possibly have two works here prior to the Breeders' Cup.

"She flourishes here," he said. "Every time she comes here, she just starts bucking and kicking and gets dappled out. She just loves being here."

In April, Holiday for Kitten became Ward's first Keeneland stakes winner when she won the Giant's Causeway and set the 5 1/2-furlong Polytrack record with a time of 1:02.78. Saturday's win gave Ward his second Keeneland stakes victory and the 100th Keeneland triumph for the Ramseys, who rank 10th all time in wins at the track.

Trainer Mike Stidham reported that third-place finisher Switch was fine Sunday morning. Stidham said that her trainer, John Sadler, had returned to California on Saturday night. Sadler had indicated last week that Switch likely would stay in Kentucky for next month's Breeders' Cup at Churchill Downs rather than ship back to California. 

Jeff Bloom's Majestic City, who was caught late by Dullahan in Saturday's Grade 1 Breeders' Futurity, on Monday is headed back to California, where he will train up to the Breeders' Cup.

"I was very pleased with his effort," trainer Peter Miller said. "With a little better luck and a better trip, he wins the race. He closed into a fast pace, opened up and then hung on."

Miller said Majestic City would have two or three works at Hollywood Park before returning to Kentucky a few days before the Breeders' Cup.

Majestic City, a son of City Zip, has made all five of his starts on all-weather surfaces. Miller said the colt could run in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at a mile instead of the $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile at 1 1/16 miles.

"We are going to nominate to both spots," Miller said. "City Zips move up on the grass and the flat mile is enticing. Plus without (leading two-year-olds) Creative Cause or Union Rags, the Turf looks like it will be a softer spot."


 


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