Kitten's Joy

Marc Detampel's New Year's Eve (Kitten's Joy) was overlooked at 11-1 in this career bow, but that won't happen in her next start after a good-looking graduation at Fair Grounds Friday. Squeezed out by her neighbors at the start, the chestnut raced near the back of the pack through opening splits of :24.41 and :50.24. Swung out to the center of the course in the stretch, New Year's Eve unleashed a furious late rally, sling-shotting past her competition to win going away by 1 1/2 lengths. Missoni (Flintshire {GB}) filled...

8th-Arlington, $30,000, Msw, 9-17, 2yo, 5fT, :57.57, fm, 2 lengths. ELEGANT JOY (f, 2, Kitten's Joy--True Elegance, by Distorted Humor) tuned up for this debut with a strong four-furlong spin from the gate in :48 flat Sept. 8 and was off right at her morning line of 8-1. In the vanguard early, Elegant Joy held the rail chasing from third into the turn, was pulled out three deep at the head of the stretch and kicked on nicely to post a professional two-length victory over the fast-finishing Onyourmarkgetsetgo (Makors Finale)....

A pair of impressive debut winners by the same sire earlier in the meet at Saratoga, one each from the Shug McGaughey and Chad Brown barns, figure to take the bulk of the play in a seven-horse renewal of the GIII With Anticipation S. for juvenile males going 1 1/16 miles on turf to kick off closing week Wednesday at the Spa. Given the nod at 7-5 on the morning line is Stuart Janney's homebred Limited Liability (Kitten's Joy). Racing with just one horse beaten early debuting over this course...

With the Keeneland September Sale fast approaching, Gray Lyster of Ashview Farm is looking forward to showcasing his colt by Oscar Performance (Kitten's Joy-Devine Actress, by Theatrical {Ire}). Bred by Colts Neck Stables, the bay catalogued as Hip 892 is a half-brother to the talented MGSW Venetian Harbor (Munnings). The sibling duo is out of the stakes-placed mare Sounds of the City (Street Cry {Ire}), who hails from the family of champion sprinter Safely Kept (Horatius). "He's actually the fifth generation of the family that we've raised here at Ashview,"...

Tiago Josue Pereira is no stranger to winning races with seven- or even eight-figure purses. In 2009, he partnered with Gloria de Campeao (Brz) (Impression {Arg}) for the very first time to cause a 24-1 upset in the $2-million G1 Singapore Airlines International Cup and less than a year later, guided the same galloper to a nose victory in the $10-million G1 Dubai World Cup. Roughly a 10% rider since relocating to the United States in 2014, Pereira had ridden seven graded stakes winners, a respectable achievement. The Brazilian, who...

Central Kentucky Riding for Hope (CKRH), non-profit therapeutic riding program, is celebrating its 40th anniversary with an upscale barn party at their center Aug. 21 that will feature silent and live auctions that include 17 halters worn by Thoroughbred superstars such as Curlin, Tapit, Street Sense, Ghostzapper, Kitten's Joy and more. Each halter comes with a Certificate of Authenticity. Other auction items of note include: A professional drone package which can be used to film a Central Kentucky property for marketing, insurance or real estate purposes Corporate boxes for 2021...

In this continuing series, TDN's Senior Editor Steve Sherack catches up with the connections of promising maidens to keep on your radar. It was a tale of two trips with James Aloysius (c, 2, More Than Ready--Olorda {Ger}, by Lord of England {Ger}) having to settle for an educational second on debut behind the well-meant firster Portfolio Company (Kitten's Joy) going 1 1/16 miles over the Saratoga lawn on opening weekend (video). Off at 4-1, the rail-drawn dark bay brushed with a rival just after the start, and, after slightly...

5th-SAR, $100k, Msw, 2yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 3:21 p.m. ET Woodslane Farm homebred HAIL TO (Kitten's Joy), a full-sister to GISW Sadler's Joy, debuts for Tom Albertrani. Still going strong at age eight for these same connections, Sadler's Joy registered a career high over the Saratoga turf course in the 2017 GI Sword Dancer S. Bobby Flay homebred Pizza Bianca (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) gets her career underway for Christophe Clement. Flay purchased her unraced dam White Hot (Ire) (Galileo {Ire})--a half-sister to group winners Gagnoa (Ire) (Sadler's Wells) and Pour...

On the day that the leading grass juvenile of 2020 rolls the dice on the GI Kentucky Derby trail, here's a really important question for every American horseman. Just what was it about European turf star Mishriff (Ire) that qualified him to run down as irresistible a dirt runner as Charlatan (Speightstown) for the richest prize in our sport last weekend? The answer is so straightforward that it condenses into a single word, yet the implications continue to elude almost everyone in our industry. And that word is: opportunity. There...

Never Surprised (Constitution) looks to take his perfect record to three-for-three Saturday as he tries graded company for the first time in the GIII Kitten's Joy S. A decisive debut winner sprinting on the turf at Aqueduct Nov. 8, the $200,000 KEESEP buy wired the field when stretching out to two turns next out in that venue's Central Park S. 20 days later. Bred on the same Constitution--Tiznow cross as MGISW Tiz the Law, the bay is favored in this sophomore bow and has three-time Eclipse winner Irad Ortiz in...

11.25 Cagnes-sur-Mer, Debutantes, €23,000, 3yo, c/g, 7 1/2f (AWT) AFKAAR (Kitten's Joy) debuts for Shadwell and Jean-Claude Rouget and is a full-brother to the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint-winning sire Bobby's Kitten and multiple graded-stakes scorer Camelot Kitten. The March-foaled bay, who cost $500,000 at Keeneland September, meets eight rivals.

It doesn't make me mad anymore. Maybe it's just the idealism of youth ebbing away. But I have also begun to understand the virtue of markets. If people want to breed to unproven stallions, that's their prerogative. I can always buy a mare, send her to a sire of runners, and see y'all in the starting gate. If I'm right, the odds are in my favor; I get value from the market. And if I'm wrong, well, no need to be angry. Even in setting all that aside, however, it's...