Stephanie's Kitten Repeats in Flower Bowl

With a patient ride by Irad Ortiz Jr., Stephanie's Kitten landed her second consecutive victory in the $500,000 Flower Bowl Stakes (gr. IT) and her first grade I of the season at 1 1/4 miles on a soft Belmont Park inner turf course Oct. 3.

"It's a little similar to last season when in her first couple starts she didn't run well, and then she rounded into strong form, right into the Breeders' Cup," trainer Chad Brown said. "This year it was a little different in that she kicked off the year with a win in the Hillsborough, but her form then regressed and we were asking ourselves the same questions.

"A combination of her currently training as well as she has all year and catching soft ground the last two starts resulted in her turning the season around. Her last two breezes were as good as I've seen her breeze in a year."

Brown noted the 6-year-old mare has now run at the grade I level from 2 to 6. "That's very rare," he said.

Ken and Sarah Ramsey's homebred daughter of Kitten's Joy   tracked just behind pacesetter Danza Cavallo through easy fractions of :26.45, :52.78, and 1:18.10. Coming out of the second turn and into the stretch, the 6-year-old mare took control. Danza Cavallo didn't give up easily but had to settle for second by a length. Mutastis Mutandis finished third; the final time was 2:06.23.

The Flower Bowl victory gave Ortiz his fourth win on the day. He won the card's first race on River Dell, took the third race with Readtheprospectus, and won the fourth race with Slim Shadey.

Ortiz said he benefited from a ground-saving trip on a surface Stephanie's Kitten loved today. "She was so game in the stretch, and everything went perfect," the jockey said. "She's so confident over it."

Brown also trains Danza Cavallo for the partnership of Michael Dubb, Sheep Pond Partners, Bethlehem Stables, and The Elkstone Group. Rider Javier Castellano said he also had a beautiful trip.

"It couldn't be any better than that," Castellano said. "I went right to the lead, and the fractions were very, very slow. My horse handled the (soft turf) so well. I was just second-best today. I got beat by the better horse in the race."

Stephanie's Kitten paid $6.90, $3.80, and $.80. Danza Cavallo paid $6.80 and $5.20, while Mutastis Mutandis paid $6.50.