Ramsey & Kitten's Joy in Breeders' Cup spotlight

BREEDERS' CUP FEATURE

OCTOBER 26, 2013

Ramsey & Kitten's Joy in Breeders' Cup spotlight

by James Scully

Ken Ramsey leading Stephanie's Kitten into the winner's circle (Churchill Downs/Reed Palmer Photography) Ken Ramsey is a man on a mission. He's promoting the Kitten's Joy brand and will run six offspring from North America's leading sire in Breeders' Cup races at Santa Anita on November 1 and 2. Ramsey and his wife, Sarah, bred and raced Kitten's Joy, the 2004 champion turf horse and an earner of more than $2 million. They retired him to Ramsey Farm near Nicholasville, Kentucky, and still own the 12-year-old stallion, breeding most of their mares to the No. 1 producer of both Grade 1 and overall stakes winners. And the Ramseys operate one of the most successful Thoroughbred racing stables in the country. Their banner 2013 season includes six Grade 1 wins and leading owner titles at Gulfstream Park, Keeneland (April and October meets), Churchill Downs (spring/summer and September meets), Saratoga and Kentucky Downs . They've compiled record-setting win totals at Churchill Downs (spring/summer) and Keeneland (both April and October).

"Humble people, I've found, don't get very far," Muhammad Ali once said.

Confidence is never a concern for Ken Ramsey. He grew up in the small town of

Artemus in the Southeastern corner of Kentucky and has risen from modest

beginnings to a preeminent position in the Thoroughbred industry.

"I believe in myself. I believe I know how to manage it," Ramsey said. "It

doesn't bother me that I come from Artemus. It doesn't bother me that my family

wasn't in horse racing. These other outfits that have been around for

generations and generations have their own formulas, but I'm me and I'm doing it

my way.

"I'm passionate, I love to win. I do everything I can to win, putting horses

with the right people and in the right races."

He brings a level of enthusiasm to the game that is rarely seen from major

owners -- he's excited to be there and refuses to stand by stoically after

winning a race, grabbing the halter and leading the horses into the winner's

circle himself.

"Lot of people think it's showing off, trying to be in the limelight and all

that. But I really enjoy leading them in," Ramsey said. "As a matter of fact, I

even commemorated the event by naming a horse 'Leadem In Ken' who I got to lead

in while we were down at Kentucky Downs.

"The announcer says, 'Leadem In Ken is being led in by Ken Ramsey.' We got a

big applause, I was very happy leading that sucker in."

Ramsey oozes confidence but does not lack humility.

"I get most of the ink, the credit for the success, but it's truly a team

effort," he said when asked about the stable's accomplishments. "I'm a partner

in all of this. My wife, (farm manager) Mark (Partridge) & his staff, my son

Jeff, all our trainers and their assistants, even the jockeys.

"I'm probably a little too tough on the jockeys, because I want them to ride

like I want them to ride, but they've got a tough job to do as well.

"My daddy said to me, 'Son, what you don't need to be is the sharpest knife

in the drawer, you don't need to be the smartest guy out there. Cause you're

not. You need to have the ability to get smart people that know more than you

do, so you can learn from them, to work with you.'

"If you can get those people on a team together, where everybody shares the

credit, you've got it figured out," Ramsey added.

Ramsey often invites people he's just met to join him in the winner's circle

and mails them a photo.

"I bet you my picture is hanging on more walls than any other Thoroughbred

owner out there right now."

He's very proud of his down-home style.

"In school (growing up), there wasn't any upper class, middle class or lower

class, we were all the same class. And I've always felt that way," Ramsey

explained. "I don't care if it's the Queen of England or who it is, I feel like

pretty much everybody's equal. They put their pants on one leg at a time just

like I do.

"I don't distinguish where somebody is. I speak to the janitor and I speak to

the president at the racetrack, and anybody in between who will speak to me (he

laughs)."

Any conversation involving horses always comes back to Kitten's Joy. The

Ramsey stable incorporates "Kitten" into most of the Kitten's Joy offspring they

race and his excellence at stud has provided a cavalry of quality

representatives.

"These Kitten's Joys are so good. We're raising a good, sound, solid

racehorse," Ramsey said. "We have made a showing at every major race track on

their major day with Kitten's Joy.

"We won on the undercard at the Florida Derby. We won on the undercard of the

Blue Grass. We won on Derby Day, at the Preakness and Belmont Stakes. We won on

Whitney Day, Travers Day, I sent my horse to win a big race at Canterbury.

Kentucky Downs, even the Super Derby, we were winning on the undercard."

August 17 served as a spectacular forum for Kitten's Joy as three Ramsey homebreds captured Grade 1 races on the same afternoon,

two at Arlington and

the other at Saratoga.

"At Arlington Park, on the big day (August 17), we were the big dog. We've

done it at the current Keeneland meet (winning the prestigious Queen Elizabeth

II Challenge Cup). So the Kitten's Joys have been showcased nationwide."

Ramsey sent a lot of cheap mares that he claimed off the track to Kitten's

Joy early in his stud career.

"You just stop and think, where this horse would be if he had been bred to

the first-round draft choices (great mares). He's not been bred to first-class

mares so far. Now, he was bred to a good book last year and his numbers at the

sales are going to improve.

"If bred to the right mare, he's going to produce."

The Breeders' Cup provides an opportunity for world-wide exposure. The Ramsey

Stable will be represented by Big Blue Kitten (Turf), Bobby's Kitten (Juvenile

Turf), Kitten's Dumplings (Filly & Mare Turf), Granny Mc's Kitten (Juvenile

Fillies Turf), Kitten Kaboodle (Juvenile Fillies Turf), Real Solution (Turf) and

We Miss Artie (Juvenile).

We Miss Artie, a son of Artie Schiller, is the only one without a Kitten's

Joy connection. Arlington Million hero Real Solution turned out to be a notable

exception for the Ramseys without "Kitten" in his name.

"We've got seven in the Breeders' Cup races and we've also got Charming

Kitten going to run in the Twilight Derby on the Breeders' Cup Friday

undercard," Ramsey noted.

Big Blue Kitten is the most accomplished and viewed as a top contender in the

Breeders' Cup Turf. An undistinguished performer earlier in his career, making

his first three starts for a claiming tag, the horse discovered his best form as

a five-year-old, winning a pair of Grade 1 races before finishing a nose second

in the September 28 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont Park.

"We got beat a head-bob and we had to wait (in traffic during the stretch)

before getting to run," Ramsey said of the narrow loss.

Ramsey points out that Big Blue Kitten serves as a perfect example of why

Kitten's Joy is a good investment.

"Big Blue Kitten is a five-year-old. The Kitten's Joys stay sound because

they're raised right," Ramsey said. "If you buy one, you're getting a sturdy,

sound, durable racehorse that's not going to have to be retired at the end of

his two-year-old year because of physical problems or other issues.

"His sons and daughters stay around as older horses."

Bobby's Kitten is only a two-year-old, but he's the Ramsey color bearer

with probably the best chance of winning a Breeders' Cup race. And he's a great

story as well since he was named for the late Bobby Frankel, a legendary Hall of

Famer trainer.

"Bobby Frankel won many Grade 1s, one of the greatest of all time, and wasn't

flamboyant," Ramsey said. "I met him at Saratoga. He was very helpful. If I

wanted to find something going on in California, I would call Bobby and ask

about a horse. Sometimes he would say, 'You don't want anything to do with that

SOB, stay away from him.' Or he'd say, 'That one's okay.' Or he would say, 'Ken,

I really don't know that much about him let me make a phone call and I'll get

back to you.'

"And, invariably, he'd call me back and give me the lowdown on whatever we

were trying to do, whether it was buying a horse or selling a horse.

"He trained multiple Grade 1 winners for me and I had all the respect in the

world for him."

Bobby's Kitten is trained by Chad Brown, who is responsible for five of the

Ramsey horses in the Breeders' Cup.

"I got acquainted with Chad Brown through Bobby Frankel, he was his

assistant. I've known Chad ever since he started working for Bobby," Ramsey

said. "Chad Brown's first winner was my horse. He wanted to win early on to make

a little bit of a name for himself so basically we took a claimer over to

Churchill Downs, he was worth $20,0000 or $25,000, and we ran him for $10,000

(claiming tag).

"We ran him right down their throats so Chad got the big win. And that was

his first winner."

Ramsey explained how Bobby's Kitten was named.

"We gave Chad (eight) juveniles this year and all of them were already named,

but I told Chad, 'We'd like to rename the very best one Bobby's Kitten in honor

of Frankel.' He said, 'Oh I like that.'

"Brown calls me and says, 'I've got two and can't separate them.' So I said,

put them together head-to-head and work them together to separate the two

horses. A couple of days later he calls back and says, 'I've got Bobby's Kitten.

He outkicked that other one unbelievably.'"

Bobby's Kitten, whose original name was Turnkey Kitten, will be the Juvenile

Turf favorite. He easily broke his maiden at Saratoga before dominating the

October 6 Pilgrim Stakes at Belmont Park by a widening 6 1/4-length margin.

Leading trainer Todd Pletcher will send out We Miss Artie for the Ramseys.

"I get the best jockeys, the best trainers. I've probably had 50 different

trainers," Ramsey said. "A lot of them, we don't fit. They don't want me reading

the condition book. They want to do it all themselves.

"I don't boss the trainers around or try to dictate what they do but I get my

two cents in, especially with spotting the horses. My philosophy is that the

trainer has one objective and an owner has another one. And if you leave your

horse strictly up to the trainer, he or she will sometimes take the path of

least resistance for them."

Ramsey is very appreciative of the input Pletcher provided regarding We Miss

Artie.

"We thought he would win the stakes race two starts back (the With

Anticipation at Saratoga). We Miss Artie came to the paddock and wasn't right,

but we went ahead (and ran him) and he faded during the race, finished up the

track. I thought, maybe that's it for him. He won't be that good.

"We Miss Artie is an Ontario-bred. So I had him penciled in to run in the

$250,000 Cup and Saucer Stakes (for Ontario-breds) up at Woodbine (on October

19). I called Todd and said, 'I know the horse blew it pretty bad in the last

race at Saratoga but he may have had an excuse and I would like to get a stakes

win out of him because he's named after my wife's cousin's husband, who passed

away of brain cancer.'

"So I said, 'I think he'll fit in the $250,000 race so let's go to Canada and

put him in the Cup and Saucer.' I thought that'd be the end of the conversation.

"Todd says, 'Let me tell you something else. Since that race, I have worked

him against two of my top two-year-olds and he has outworked both of them. This

is a good horse, draw a line through that race. Let me bring him to the

Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland and see what he can do. That's a $400,000 Grade

1.'

"And I said, 'Todd, you have made my day. Forget I ever mentioned Canada.' So

Todd Pletcher gets 101 percent of the credit for the decision to run him in the

Breeders' Futurity, which he won and earned an expense-paid trip to the

Breeders' Cup."

We Miss Artie has never run on dirt and the Juvenile Turf was an option given

how well he performed on turf in his maiden win.

But the race decision came down to spotlighting Kitten's Joy in the Breeders'

Cup.

"I'm keeping them separated," Ramsey explained. "If I'm going to get beat

with Bobby's Kitten, I damn sure don't want it to be with We Miss Artie.

"The same goes for the Turf. I could've run Hyper, who exits a Grade 2 win at

Belmont Park, with the Kitten's Joys -- Big Blue Kitten and Real Solution. But

he's by Victory Gallop."

Hyper runs in the Grade 1 Canadian International at Woodbine on October 27.

Ramsey shows no signs of slowing down at age 77, bringing a tangible sense of

excitement and determination to the discussion of his horses.

"People say we are a Johnny come lately, but I don't think that's so," Ramsey

said. "Kitten's Joy's success this year isn't just a flash in the pan-- he was

destined to be a good sire from the very beginning. He was one of finalists for

Horse of the Year and a champion. He's got a pedigree that's in the top pages of

the stud book."

Kitten's Joy is proving to be one of the most influential sires of modern

times.

"Big Blue Kitten is a five-year-old. Real Solution is a four-year-old.

Kitten's Dumplings is a three-year-old. And we've got all these two-year-olds.

These horses are in the pipeline. People can make money with the Kitten's Joys."

If one or more of his horses captures a Breeders' Cup race, Ramsey will be

there to lead them into the winner's circle.