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Precious Kitten roars in Matriarch

Precious Kitten ran away from her rivals to give trainer Bobby Frankel his record-breaking eighth Matriarch (Benoit Photo) Ken and Sarah Ramsey's homebred PRECIOUS KITTEN (Catienus) looked more like a lion in Sunday's $500,000 Matriarch S. (G1) at Hollywood Park, convincingly defeating champion Wait a While (Maria's Mon) by 1 1/4 lengths. The dark bay filly sizzled one mile on the firm turf in a stakes-record 1:33.63 to continue the mind-boggling success of trainer Bobby Frankel in this event. With eight Matriarch victories now to his credit, Frankel broke the old record of seven Matriarch trophies amassed by the legendary Charlie Whittingham. Precious Kitten broke running and quickly went to the front, but when her jockey Rafael Bejarano noticed that 42-1 longshot Live Life (Fr) (Linamix) was determined to lead the way, he wisely throttled her back into second. As Live Life opened up on the field through splits of :23 3/5 and :47 1/5, Precious Kitten stalked comfortably, with Wait a While content to rate in third. On the far turn, Naissance Royale (Ire) (Giant's Causeway) began to advance, but Precious Kitten was moving best of all. She zoomed past the sputtering Live Life while reaching the six-furlong mark in 1:10 3/5 and seized the race by the throat. Naissance Royale's bid evaporated almost as soon as it had begun. Wait a While tried to mount a challenge, but Precious Kitten kept pouring it on in the stretch, getting seven furlongs in 1:22 and continuing her relentless march all the way to the wire. Wait a While had 1 1/4 lengths to spare over Lady of Venice (Fr) (Loup Solitaire), with Live Life another 2 1/4 lengths back in fourth. Dance Away Capote (Capote) and Naissance Royale completed the order under the wire.

Dispatched as the nearly 3-1 second choice, Precious Kitten returned $7.60, $3.20 and $2.40 while spearheading $1 exotics worth $8.80 (exacta) and $18.10 (3-2-1 trifecta). Wait a While, the 6-5 favorite, yielded $2.80 and $2.10, and Lady of Venice paid $2.80 at nearly 7-2.

Precious Kitten was rebounding from a nightmare eighth in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1), where she was carried hopelessly wide by a bolting rival and effectively eliminated from the race. That misfortune snapped a 10-race streak during which she had finished first or second. The Kentucky-bred has been a model of consistency this season, capturing the John C. Mabee H. (G1), Palomar H. (G2) and Gallorette H. (G3), the latter in course-record time at Pimlico. The four-year-old has also finished second in the First Lady S. (G2), CashCall Mile Invitational S. (G2), Jenny Wiley S. (G2) and Honey Fox H. (G3). In the Matriarch, she avenged two of those runner-up efforts inflicted by Wait a While (in the Honey Fox) and Lady of Venice (in the CashCall Mile).

"We got a different pace today than we did in the CashCall Mile," explained Frankel's assistant Humberto Ascanio, who handled saddling duties on Sunday. "Today most of the field was at least two lengths behind our horse in second, and I think that helped."

Precious Kitten boosted her bankroll to $1,419,688 from a 19-7-8-1 line, which includes wins in the 2006 Mrs. Revere S. (G2) and Martha Washington Breeders' Cup S.

Produced from the winning Kitten's First (Lear Fan), Precious Kitten is a half-sister to Kitten's Joy (El Prado [Ire]), the 2004 champion turf horse, as well as the multiple stakes-winning Justenuffheart (Broad Brush), herself the dam of champion Dreaming of Anna (Rahy) and Grade 2 victor Lewis Michael (Rahy).

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