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Holiday for Kitten guts out TCA win over Musical Romance
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| Holiday for Kitten would not be denied in the TCA
(Keeneland Photo) |
Holiday for Kitten continued owner/breeder Ken and Sarah Ramsey's
success at Keeneland when just holding Musical Romance in Saturday's
Grade 2, $200,000
Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes. The victory gave the Ramsey
Stable a 100th victory at the storied Lexington, Kentucky, track.
Trained by Wesley Ward and ridden by Kendrick Carmouche, Holiday for
Kitten tracked the pacesetting Rapport through opening splits of :21 4/5
and :44 3/5 before beginning her move entering the turn. The bay lass
pulled her way to the front and appeared a clear winner momentarily, but
Musical Romance was closing fast. The pair hooked up in the shadow of
the wire, with Holiday for Kitten holding the win by a head while
finishing six Polytrack furlongs in 1:08 3/5.
"She broke in front, and I knew Brian Hernandez (on Rapport) would be
right on the lead or sitting second," Carmouche said. "I let him go to
the lead, and I was sitting pretty comfortable at the quarter-pole,
coming into the top of the stretch. When I asked her to go home and
switch leads, I knew right there I had enough horse to compete with the
rest of the horses whenever a challenge would come on."
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Sent off the 18-1 eighth pick in the 11-distaffer field, the daughter
of Kitten's Joy paid $39.60, $17.20 and $7.80. Switch, the 4-5 heavy
favorite, ran in the rear of the group early on the backstretch before
making her way toward the front on the outside. She put in a nice rally,
but just couldn't catch the top two while easily overtaking Rapport for
third.
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| Havelock is likely to carry
the Ramsey silks in the Breeders' Cup
(Keeneland Photo) |
"This filly tried really hard," jockey Juan Leyva said of runner-up Musical
Romance. "I just needed one more jump to get there. But what are you going to
do?"
"They're running really fast. She tried and gave everything her best,"
remarked Switch's rider, Joel Rosario. "A little farther might be better for her
-- 6 1/2 or seven (furlongs). They are going really fast times. The horses that
are going to the front, once they get to the front they don't stop; they carry
it. They keep it moving. She was coming from behind, but I think a little
farther might be better."
Indulgence, Shotgun Gulch, I Knot, Promised Mandate, Devil by Design, Dances
With Ashley and Diamond Song completed the order under the wire.
Holiday for Kitten earned an automatic berth in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup
Filly & Mare Sprint on November 4 at Churchill Downs with this win.
"We'll talk it over with the boss tonight, but he likes to show up at the
Breeders' Cup as well as he does here," Ward said of his charge making an
appearance in the Breeders' Cup starting gate.
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Holiday for Kitten earned her first stakes score in the Giant's Causeway
Stakes during Keeneland's spring meet, setting a new Polytrack record for 5 1/2
furlongs in the process, and followed that with a trip to England to run at
Royal Ascot. The sophomore miss finished 13th in the Group 1 King's Stand while
6 1/2 lengths back of the winner, and returned stateside to add a third in the
Crank It Up Stakes and a sixth last out in the Turf Amazon Handicap to her
resume. The Kentucky-bred miss, who is out of the winning Cure the Blues mare
Blue Holiday, also ran second in last year's Grade 3 Miesque Stakes and now
boasts an 11-4-2-2 career mark to go along with $271,945 in earnings.
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