Direct the Cat

The Week In Review: State-Bred Stakes Winners Shine in Spotlight

With major Breeders' Cup prep races all in the books, this past weekend's stakes action focused on state-bred and -sired programs in West Virginia, Maryland and Louisiana. It wasn't difficult to find three standout horses who turned in headline-worthy efforts for smaller-scale outfits whose perseverance and accomplishments routinely fly beneath the radar. Leading the charge at Charles Town was breeder/owner/trainer Cyndy McKee's Beau Ridge Farm, which won four of Saturday's night's 10 Breeders' Classic stakes for West Virginia-breds, and ran second and third with two other entrants. "It felt like...

[ Read More ]
Off At 1-10 Odds, West Virginia Filly's One-Year Win Streak Halted By Uncoupled Stablemate

The West Virginia-bred filly Direct the Cat (Redirect), who was profiled in TDN earlier this month after winning six straight races by a combined 58 3/4 lengths, had her year-long, huge-margin win streak stopped Saturday night when she ran second at Charles Town in the $75,000 Sylvia Bishop Memorial S. for state-bred 3-year-old fillies. The 1 3/4-length defeat was administered by the 12-1 upsetter and second choice in the wagering, Overnight Pow Wow (Fiber Sonde). The two gray fillies are both owned and trained by Cyndy McKee, who, along with...

[ Read More ]
The Week in Review: Sure, She's Earned 'Freak' Status, but Breeder Says Huge-Margin Charles Town Filly is 'Just My Amazing Girl'

What do you get when you breed a mare who is by a sire who never raced because he crashed through a fence to a stallion who also never made it to the races because he, too, tried to run headlong through a fence? If you're Cyndy McKee and her late husband, John McKee, of West Virginia's Beau Ridge Farm, the answer is the 3-year-old filly Direct the Cat, who on July 4 won a seven-furlong, second-level open allowance at Charles Town by 15 1/4 lengths as the 1-to-10 favorite....

[ Read More ]
X

Never miss another story from the TDN

Click Here to sign up for a free subscription.