Kitten's Joy makes triumphant return in Firecracker

Ken and Sarah Ramsey's KITTEN'S JOY (El Prado [Ire]) made his four-year-old

debut a successful one when scoring in the $274,000 Firecracker Breeders'

Cup H. (G2) at Churchill Downs on Monday. Making his first start since undergoing knee surgery to

remove bone chips from his left knee, the chestnut settled in fourth under

jockey Edgar Prado, while Parker Run (Gltterman) carved out fractions of :24 2/5,

:48 2/5, 1:12 2/5 and 1:24. Kitten's Joy moved to the inside to gain positioning,

eventually accumulating a one-length margin by the time the Dale Romans trainee hit the wire.

He stopped the one-mile turf affair in 1:35 1/5 over a firm course.

The 3-5 favorite returned $3.20, $2.20 and $2.10 for the win. Old Forester

(Forestry),

who ran a majority of the trip in second, held that position to the line and

gave back $2.60 and $2.10 for the place at nearly 5-2. America Alive (American Chance)

offered a slight run on the outside to finish third, paying $2.10 at 8-1.

Exotics paid $7 (exacta), $21.60 (trifecta) and Parker Run came in fourth to

complete the 4-1-5-3 superfecta that totaled $122.40. Senor Swinger (El Prado

[Ire]) and Mighty Military (Military) completed the order of finish.

Kitten's Joy was bred in Kentucky by his owners and is out of Kitten's First

(Lear Fan). He counts himself as a half-brother to three-time stakes winner Justenuffheart

(Broad Brush), an unraced two-year-old filly named Precious Kitten (Catienus), and an

unnamed yearling filly by Catienus. Kitten's Joy now owns a record of 13-9-3-0

with earnings of $1,875,991.