First Turn - 8/20

FIRST

TURN

AUGUST 20

Kitten's Joy leads America's turf ranks

by James Scully

The Arlington Million (G1) was the main focus of Saturday's

International Festival of Racing and generated plenty of

controversy when the stewards made a poor decision to take down

the best horse in the race, but the Secretariat S. (G1) featured

the premiere American turf horse two races later. KITTEN'S JOY (El

Prado [Ire]) displayed a dazzling turn on the far turn to swoop

past all of his rivals into the stretch of the Secretariat and

easily won the 1 1/4-mile event under wraps.

The Dale Romans-trained three-year-old is America's best hope

for the Breeders' Cup Turf (G1). Kitten's Joy earned his fifth

graded win (all on turf) and ran the same distance two-fifths of

a second faster than older horses in the Million. His only career

defeat on the grass came by a hard-fought head against a quality

foe, and he'll be difficult to beat the rest of this year against

older horses. Fellow sophomores BLACKDOUN (Fr) (Verglas [Ire])

and ARTIE SCHILLER (El Prado [Ire]) also both appear capable of

defeating their elders.

There aren't any older horses to fear in the entire world with

the possible exception of DOYEN (Ire) (Sadler's Wells).

The Americans take turns beating each other. Kicken Kris,

BETTER TALK NOW (Talkin Man), METEOR STORM (GB) (Bigstone [Ire]),

REQUEST FOR PAROLE (Judge T C) and STROLL (Pulpit) have all won

major events and all proven very beatable. But while it may be

fair to knock our older turf division, don't be fooled into

believing the Europeans are much better.

We only have to look at the King George VI & Queen

Elizabeth Diamond S. (Eng-G1) on July 24 for the perfect example.

HARD BUCK (Brz) (Spend a Buck) captured the Gulfstream Park

Breeders' Cup H. (G1) by a head over BALTO STAR (Glitterman),

with Kicken Kris third, in late February, but he dropped his next

three outings, including a loss to SENOR SWINGER (El Prado [Ire])

in June. Following his dull fifth-place finish in the July 3

United Nations (G1), one would be hard-pressed to rate Hard Buck

among the best five turf horses in the United States.

Three weeks later he's at Ascot challenging Doyen inside the

final quarter-mile in one of England's most prestigious summer

events, finishing second and beating SULAMANI (Ire) (Hernando [Fr])

and other highly regarded Europeans like WARRSAN (Caerleon), who

defeated Doyen earlier this year, and VALLEE ENCHANTEE (Peintre

Celebre) in the Diamond.

Once again, Hard Buck was over in England last month making

most of his rivals look bad in one of their biggest races for

older horses.

Sulamani, who was no factor when fifth in last year's

Breeders' Cup Turf, came back to win Tuesday's Juddmonte

International S. (Eng-G1) at York. And he didn't catch a weak

Group 1 field in that event either. The undefeated and highly

regarded BAGO (Nashwan), a three-time Group 1 winner, was the

heavy favorite on Tuesday but could do no better than third.

Doyen is now riding a two-race Group 1 win skein and easily

handled Hard Buck by three lengths at the end of their only

meeting. He certainly looks very formidable the rest of the year,

but I wouldn't get too carried away singing his praises because

his best races have both come at Ascot. Let's see him reproduce

that form elsewhere. The rest of the Europeans look capable of

beating each other on any afternoon.

That includes POWERSCOURT (GB) (Sadler's Wells), who came

across the Atlantic to trounce his opponents on Saturday. The

outcome of the Million would've been the same whether he ran

straight or not, and his connections probably got a raw deal

because he was clear when coming over in the stretch.

A tiring EPALO (Ger) (Lando [Ger]) freaked when a clear

Powerscourt crossed over in front of him. As a result, an

inconsequential situation arose as Epalo bore into Kicken Kris,

who bumped into the rail as a result of the contact. He quickly

recovered to be a clear-cut second, but Kicken Kris never had a

prayer of catching the first-place finisher. Powerscourt, who was

behind Kicken Kris entering the stretch drive, sped by everybody

like they were standing still and continued strongly to the wire.

Winner of the Tattersalls Gold Cup (Ire-G1) in his first start

this year, Powerscourt finished a solid second to RAKTI (Polish

Precedent) in the Prince of Wales's S. (Eng-G1) next out and then

came home fifth behind REFUSE TO BEND (Ire) (Sadler's Wells) in

the Coral-Eclipse S. (Eng-G1). He tuned up for the Million with a

runner-up showing in a German Group 1 event and is now hitting

his best stride for conditioner Aidan O'Brien. The improving four-year-old

shouldn't be dismissed as a European second stringer and could

take a turn with a major success later this season overseas.

European best turf horses might hold an edge over our older

horses, but they'll have their hands full if they come over to

face our three-year-olds. I would take Kitten's Joy right now

over any turf horse in the world.

The chestnut has earned BRIS Speed ratings of 110 and 108

while cruising to highly impressive scores going 10 furlongs in

his last two starts. He wasn't seriously threatened either time

and owns room for more improvement. Distance doesn't look like

any kind of an impediment, and Kitten's Joy is poised to win the

Breeders' Cup Turf this year if he keeps getting better as

expected.

Blackdoun looks special. He won his U.S. debut in commendable

fashion, taking a division of the Oceanside S. in a stakes-record

1:33 2/5, and then overcame trouble and exploded to win the La

Jolla H. (G2) on Saturday. The Julio Canani trainee hasn't faced

quality competition like Kitten's Joy, but the talented colt

could be any kind in the future.

Artie Schiller is also going very well presently, with the

only setback from his last four turf stakes being a runner-up

finish to Kitten's Joy in the Virginia Derby.

I'd rank the American turf horses in the following order now:

1		Kitten's Joy
2		Blackdoun
3		Artie Schiller
4		Kicken Kris
5		Hard Buck