Irish Mias Headlines Upgraded Kitten's Joy Stakes

As a points-earning race on the Road to the Kentucky Derby, the $100,000 Mucho Macho Man Stakes is the headliner of five stakes for 3-year-olds at Gulfstream Park Jan. 4, though it is the $100,000 Kitten's Joy Stakes (G3T) that carries the graded weight.

One of six stakes upgraded by the American Graded Stakes Committee to grade 3 status for 2020, the Kitten's Joy was won last year by eventual National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes (G2T) winner Casa Creed, who edged Henley's Joy, last summer's Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes (G1T) victor.

Following the achievements of those colts may prove a tall order for the nine entrants in Saturday's Kitten's Joy, though there are some promising runners in the race, contested at about 7 1/2 furlongs on the grass. Two are stakes winners: Irish Mias, winner of the Laurel Futurity and second in the Pulpit Stakes at Gulfstream, and Yesterdayoncemore, who won the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf Stakes last fall in California.  

Isabelle de Tomaso's homebred Irish Mias, a chestnut Sky Mesa  colt who typically rallies from midpack, has shown the ability to perform well regardless of pace. In the Laurel Futurity, he closed from behind dawdling splits of :50.17 and 1:14.75 to take the 1 1/16-mile race in 1:44.03. After a fourth-place finish in the Awad Stakes, he closed from behind blazing fractions of :45.62 and 1:09.27 to be second, beaten two lengths, in the one-mile Pulpit.

Video: Pulpit S. (BT)

Sole Volante won the Pulpit in 1:33.02. He is entered in the Mucho Macho Man.

"He's been very consistent. I thought he ran very well at Gulfstream last time," trainer Graham Motion said of Irish Mias. "The only thing that hurts him is that he has a tendency to break a step slow. If he could overcome that, I think it would really help him."

Rajiv Maragh, aboard in the Pulpit, returns in the saddle from post 2 on Irish Mias, the leading money earner in the race with a $176,100 bankroll, compiled from a 1-3-0 record from five starts.

The well-traveled Yesterdayoncemore, who raced five times last year in Ireland before starting twice in California in the fall, received a freshening late last year. Now in the barn of trainer Patrick Biancone, she returns after finishing sixth in the Oct. 6 Surfer Girl Stakes at Santa Anita Park for previous trainer James Stack. The daughter of No Nay Never races for owners D P Racing, Mrs. Paul Shanahan, and Susan Magnier.

The Kitten's Joy includes a couple of last-out maiden winners in Summer to Remember and Bless the Kitten, the latter a son of the champion older male turf horse of 2004 and leading sire for whom this race is named.

Bless the Kitten, like Kitten's Joy , races for breeders Ken and Sarah Ramsey, who won this race in 2013 with Charming Kitten, trained by Todd Pletcher, and in 2017 with Kitten's Cat, from the barn of trainer Joe Sharp. Mike Maker, seeking his first victory in this race, trains Bless the Kitten.

Pletcher saddles Waterford Stable's Summer to Remember, who, before breaking his maiden in his second start, was the runner-up behind eventual Summer Stakes (G1T) winner Decorated Invader in a maiden race at Saratoga Race Course.  

The other grass stakes race at Gulfstream on Saturday is the $100,000 Ginger Brew Stakes for sophomore fillies, also run at about 7 1/2 furlongs.

Natalma Stakes (G1T) winner Abscond is favored at 9-5 in what will be her first start since weakening to seventh in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T) for trainer Eddie Kenneally, who won last year's Ginger Brew with Boxwood.

"She's done really well at Palm Meadows (Training Center) and hasn't missed a beat since the Breeders' Cup," Kenneally said. "She ran well, actually, in the Breeders' Cup and didn't get beat terribly far. She got hooked up in a little bit of a speed duel in the early part of the race but still finished OK."

Video: Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T)

Irad Ortiz Jr. rides the Blame  filly owned by Apogee Bloodstock, a pinhooking/racing partnership headed by Christian Hays, Peter Kirwan, and Kenneally.

Cheermeister, American Giant, and High On Gin are other stakes winners in the 12-horse field. 

Entries: Kitten's Joy S. (G3T)

Gulfstream Park, Saturday, January 04, 2020, Race 7

• Grade IIIT
• About 7 1/2f
• Turf
• $100,000
• 3 yo
• 3:00 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Get Smokin (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	118	Thomas M. Bush	5/1
2	2Irish Mias (NJ)	Rajiv Maragh	123	H. Graham Motion	3/1
3	3Yesterdayoncemore (IRE)	Julien R. Leparoux	118	Patrick L. Biancone	4/1
4	4Bless the Kitten (KY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	118	Michael J. Maker	9/2
5	5King Theo (KY)	Javier Castellano	118	Carlo Vaccarezza	12/1
6	6Mystic Lancelot (KY)	John R. Velazquez	118	Todd A. Pletcher	8/1
7	7Ny Traffic (NY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	118	Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.	4/1
8	8Island Commish (KY)	Paco Lopez	118	Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.	6/1
9	9Summer to Remember (KY)	Luis Saez	118	Todd A. Pletcher	6/1

Entries: Ginger Brew S.

Gulfstream Park, Saturday, January 04, 2020, Race 9

• STK
• About 7 1/2f
• Turf
• $100,000
• 3 yo Fillies
• 4:00 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Cheermeister (KY)	Emisael Jaramillo	122	Armando De la cerda	12/1
2	2American Giant (FL)	Luis Saez	122	Michael J. Trombetta	12/1
3	3Moral Reasoning (KY)	Javier Castellano	118	Chad C. Brown	6/1
4	4Abscond (KY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	122	Eddie Kenneally	9/5
5	5Our Little Jewel (FL)	Edgard J. Zayas	118	Michael J. Trombetta	15/1
6	6Sunset Promise (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	118	Michael J. Maker	8/1
7	7Queen of God (KY)	Santiago Gonzalez	118	Alexis Delgado	20/1
8	8High On Gin (FL)	Devin H. Magnon	122	Carl J. Deville	20/1
9	9Hear My Prayer (FL)	Paco Lopez	120	David Fisher	6/1
10	10Runway Dreamer (KY)	Joe Bravo	118	Josie Carroll	12/1
11	11Bredenbury (IRE)	John R. Velazquez	120	H. Graham Motion	10/1
12	12She's My Type (FR)	Tyler Gaffalione	118	Christophe Clement	10/1