Stephanie's Kitten Surges to Flower Bowl Win
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Favored Stephanie's Kitten drove clear down the stretch on the outside to register her first win of the year Sept. 27 in the $600,000 Flower Bowl Invitational Stakes (gr. IT) on the grass at Belmont Park .
John Velazquez confidently guided the stalking 5-year-old daughter of Kitten's Joy to an impressive victory by 1 1/4 lengths for owners/breeders Ken and Sarah Ramsey and trainer Chad Brown.
Abaco came on late to edge pacesetter Viva Rafaela for second.
Off at odds of 6-5 in the field of eight older fillies and mares, Stephanie's KItten completed the 1 1/4-mile distance in a smart 2:01.15 over a firm inner turf course. It was the third grade I victory of her career.
The bay mare out of the Catienus mare Unfold the Rose earned an automatic fees-paid starting berth in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (gr. IT) Oct. 31 at Santa Anita Park. Stephanie's Kitten won the 2011 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (gr. IIT).
Brown said Stephanie Kitten would definitely be returning to the Breeders' Cup.
"We've been working backwards from the Filly & Mare Turf, and believed this filly could get there all year as one of the horses to beat," he said.
Breaking from the far outside, Stephanie's Kitten was always well positioned in fourth as the Brazilian mare Viva Rafaela got the early lead over Starstruck and opened up by about one length rounding the clubhouse turn as Alterite chased from third. Viva Rafaela, ridden by Javier Castellano, was not hard-pressed through quarter mile fractions of :24.33, :50.28, 1:14.62, and 1:38.40.
The pacesetter continued to show the way in the stretch as Stephanie's Kitten progressed on the outside and the others gave way. Stephanie's Kitten kicked past Viva Rafaela with ease approaching the sixteenth pole and quickly drew clear under a strong hand ride from Velazquez.
"We broke well enough, and I wanted to make sure I got a nice position going into the first turn," said Velazquez after his second Flower Bowl win in three years. "Once we got that, I was pretty pleased with where I was and kind of bided my time. When I asked her, she responded right away, and made me look really good."
Abaco, racing in midpack until launching her bid leaving the quarter pole, closed willingly for Jose Ortiz to get the place spot by a neck over Viva Rafaela, with Watsdachances fourth. Then came Starstruck, Tannery, Alterite, and Strathnaver.
Stephanie's Kitten, who registered her eighth lifetime win in 18 starts, scored for Brown in her first try at 10 furlongs while surpassing $2 million in career earnings.
Until the Flower Bowl, the 2014 season had been one of missed opportunities for Stephanie's Kitten. She was off the board in both the Jenny Wiley (gr. IT) in April at Keeneland when eighth, and Belmont's Just a Game (gr. IT), a race she won over a yielding course in 2013, when fifth June 7.
The hard-trying mare rebounded in the Diana Stakes (gr. IT) July 19 at Saratoga Race Course, rallying from seventh after a rough start to be beaten by a neck by Somali Lemonade. In the Beverly D. (gr. IT) Aug. 16 at Arlington International Racecourse, she came from far out of it to be second again by three-quarters of a length to Euro Charline.
"She got a beautiful trip, and I'm really proud of this filly; she deserved to get a good, clean trip," said Brown, who won the Flower Bowl in 2011 with the French mare Stacelita. "That's the third race in a row for us that I felt she ran terrific. She was a little unlucky in the Beverly D. and Diana, and this time Johnny got away from the gate really well and gave her a beautiful trip. The filly did the rest."
As a juvenile in 2011, Stephanie's Kitten won the Darley Alcibiades (gr. IT) at Keeneland prior to her victory in the BC Juvenile Fillies at Churchill Downs. Other notable stakes wins in her career came in the Woodford Reserve Lake Placid (gr. IIT) at Saratoga in 2012 and the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile Presented by Longines (gr. IIT) and the Just a Game last year.
Extending her career bankroll to $2,274,104, Stephanie's Kitten carried 121 pounds and paid $4.40, $3, and $2.30. Phipps Stable's Abaco, winner of the Ballston Sap (gr. IIT) at Saratoga in her most recent start for trainer Shug McGaughey, returned $4.10 and $2.80 as the 9-2 second choice, completing an $18.20 exacta. Viva Rafaela paid $3.20 to show.
Maximova scratched.