The Continuing Rise of Kitten's Joy

Underscoring Kitten's Joy 's rise to the top of the North American general sire list, along with a continuing dominance as the continent's leading turf sire, has been the powerful performance of his son Roaring Lion in top races in England and Ireland.

Bred, raced, and developed as a stallion by Ken and Sarah Ramsey, Kitten's Joy has been no stranger to the leading sire ranks. He topped the general leading sire list in 2013, the same year he began a five-year streak as leading turf sire. The 17-year-old son of El Prado has sired 90 black-type winners, of which 41 have won at the grade/group level.

The dominance of Roaring Lion in group 1 company overseas this year, however, raises his sire's status further among the world's best stallions.

"The marketplace knows Kitten's Joy here, knows his proficiency, and knows his success," said John Sikura, president of Hill 'n' Dale Farms, which bought a controlling interest in the stallion last year and began standing him this year. "Then when you add another chapter to being a world-class international sire with a runner who is winning multiple group 1s against the toughest competition, that further elevates the profile."

Roaring Lion, bred in Kentucky by Jan Van de Bos Naify's RanJan Racing, has won five of eight starts this year all in group company for Sheikh Fahad al-Thani's Qatar Racing. The 3-year-old gray/roan colt comes into the Nov. 3 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1)—his first start on dirt—off consecutive victories in the Coral Eclipse (G1), Juddmonte International Stakes (G1), QIPCO Irish Champion Stakes (G1), and most recently the Oct. 20 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (G1) on British Champions day. The colt has earned more than $3.4 million so far this year.

"I can't rave enough about the sportsmanship of bringing the horse here to try the Classic," Sikura said. "That is what racing is all about. You have great man in (trainer) John Gosden, a world-renowned horseman. The easy thing would have been to stay home or run on the Turf, but they are going to do something adventurous.

"Think of the bravery of taking a champion and bringing him over and changing surfaces, and then Juddmonte has brought Enable," Sikura continued, referring to this year's Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (G1) winner, who has been entered in the Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T). "Very few people would do that. Everyone wants to protect their turf and pad their record and run where they are favorites. The internationalism of the Breeders' Cup is the way forward for racing."

Sikura said Roaring Lion's brilliance appropriately rewards further Ken Ramsey's unwavering faith in the stallion. Kitten's Joy entered stud at Ramsey Farm in 2006 and stood there through 2017, when Ramsey got frustrated by the stallion's yearling average at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale and announced his intention to send Kitten's Joy overseas, where he felt the stallion would get more respect.

In stepped Sikura, who recognized the importance of keeping a sire of Kitten's Joy's caliber in the U.S.

"I had approached Ken years ago, as many people did, but he just didn't want the horse to leave," Sikura said. "We were fortunate to be able to convince him that what he wanted to accomplish commercially was achievable, and we could do that here. Ken gets all the credit for recognizing he needed to change course and coincidentally the stallion's having a great year. That success had nothing to do with us because those horses were already bred and raised and running before the horse got here.

"He is an extremely important horse, and I'm not sure people really recognize what a great stallion he is," Sikura continued. "Really, all credit to Ken and what he's done. You can try that 1,000 times and it will only work once. It happens just often enough that the other 999 people will try it and it will be a dismal failure. You can't make a stallion. You can help things along, but he has to be a superior genetic horse that can pass on ability, soundness, and toughness. And though he doesn't stand at Ramsey Farm, Ken is relentless and enthusiastic. It is great to see."

For Naify, seeing Roaring Lion excel at the highest level has been particular rewarding because she and her late husband, Robert, who died in 2016, have been nurturing the most recent generations of Roaring Lion's family. They bought out their partners on a multiple grade 3 winner Cambiocorsa (by Avenue of Flags) and started breeding her in Kentucky. Naify keeps all her broodmares, weanlings, and yearlings at the Farish family's Lane's End. The mare produced graded stakes winners Schiaparelli and Moulin de Mougin; grade 1-placed Vionnet; grade 3-placed stakes winner Bronson, and multiple black-type winner Alexis Tangier.

Roaring Lion is the first of two foals produced by Vionnet, a daughter of Street Sense , who tragically died last February due to complications from a five-month battle with laminitis. 

"We have been fortunate enough to grow this family and have beautiful turf runners," Naify said. "And now we have Roaring Lion, who is the best we've bred and I'm very proud. I wish my husband was here to see it. I feel like he has been helping me along the way. I think John Gosden has done a fabulous job with the horse. Sheikh Fahad and David Redvers have been super managers. The horse has beautiful breeding, but if you don't have the correct people training and managing then you may not see a horse like that excel in that fashion on the world stage."

Naify was at Ascot for British Champions day and was wowed by Roaring Lion's performance. She said she is thrilled to see him in the Classic but is concerned about the many obstacles the colt faces—running back in two weeks, the shipping, and facing tough competition on a new surface. What she does know about the colt is that he will give it his all.

"He runs with heart. Everyone in the family has the same heart," Naify said. "Cambiocorsa when she was with Doug O'Neill ran two or three times in a month. They all have a larger heart than most, which I know because I've had them scanned. Roaring Lion has a huge heart girth, too, they are all built that way. He has the heart of a lion."

Regardless of how Roaring Lion does in the Classic, he has already made a valuable contribution to Naify's program. She breeds in Kentucky to take advantage of the Kentucky Thoroughbred Breeders' Incentive Fund, which pays for grade/group 1 or grade/group 2 wins anywhere in the U.S., Canada, England, France, and Ireland. To date, Roaring Lion has accumulated $35,000 in incentive funds.

The money Naify makes selling her Kentucky-breds and from the breeders' incentives helps pay for her California farm where she re-trains her ex-racehorses and finds them new careers whenever possible.

"This is why I continue to breed in Kentucky, to support what I do back home. Roaring Lion is helping us out a lot," she said.