Bobby's Kitten Easy Winner of European Debut
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Photo: Skip Dickstein
Bobby's Kitten wins the 2014 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint
Top turf sprinter Bobby's Kitten won his European debut easily March 28 when he posted an 8 1/2-length victory in the March 28 listed Cork Stakes at Cork Racecourse in Ireland.
Ridden by Pat Smullen for trainer Dermot Weld, the 5-year-old horse by Kitten's Joy tracked the leaders early, challenged two furlongs out, and then took over with a furlong remaining. He covered six furlongs on turf rated heavy in 1:18.54.
His Cork Stakes impost of 138 pounds was 12 more than his previous top weight of 126, which he carried in his last two starts of 2015.
The victory for the Kenneth L. and Sarah K. Ramsey homebred was the first for Bobby's Kitten since his win in the 2014 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (gr. IT) at Santa Anita Park. In an abbreviated 2015 campaign, Bobby's Kitten finished seventh and ninth in graded stakes before completing the three-race season when a troubled fourth in defense of his Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, which was contested at five furlongs on grass at Keeneland.
Kenneth Ramsey had said Bobby's Kitten, trained in the United States by Chad Brown and who has won six of 14 starts, with four placings, would have a European campaign this year with the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at 6 1/2 furlongs on Santa Anita's downhill turf course the goal.
"If he had won, we'd have retired him to stud," Ramsey said following the 2015 Turf Sprint. "But he was fourth so we decided to let him run one more year, and hopefully it will turn out like Stephanie's Kitten (who won the 2015 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf, gr. IT). There's just one grade I for turf sprinters in America while there are a handful of them in England, France, and Dubai."