Ramseys Take Home Fourth Eclipse as Owners
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For the second year in a row and fourth time overall, Ken and Sarah Ramsey earned the Eclipse Award as North America's leading owner. They also achieved the honor in 2004 and 2011. Although they didn't quite reach the heights they established in their magical 2013 season, the Nicholasville, Ky.-based couple enjoyed their second-best year ever, with 2014 purse earnings of $10,544,148, which easily out-distanced runner-up Kaleem Shah, whose horses earned $5,977,978. Ramsey runners earned a single-season North American record $12.2 million in 2013.
For the season, horses owned by the Ramseys made 628 starts and won 153, a 24% strike rate. The overwhelming percentage of Ramsey starters are by their homebred turf champion and 2013 leading sire Kitten's Joy , who stands at their Ramsey Farm and has proven to be a prepotent sire, finishing third on the 2014 leading sires list. The Ramseys supported Kitten's Joy virtually on their own in his early years at stud, and they are being rewarded for their faith in him.
The Ramseys' grade I wins in 2014 came from Bobby's Kitten, who scored in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (gr. IT), Real Solution , who won the Knob Creek Manhattan Stakes (gr. IT), and Stephanie's Kitten, who got home first in the Flower Bowl Stakes (gr. IT).
Other 2014 graded stakes winners owned by the Ramseys were Admiral Kitten, International Star, Thank You Marylou, Vicar's in Trouble, and We Miss Artie. Steaming Kitten won a group III race in Italy. Additional stakes winners on the year were Jolly Good Kitten (in France), Always Kitten, Awesome Flower, Charming Kitten, Coalport, Crown the Kitten, Gentleman's Kitten, Leadem in Ken, Luck of the Kitten, Right On Kitten, Saffron Hall, Sassy Kitten, and St. Borealis.
The Ramseys won meet titles in 2014 at Gulfstream Park, Churchill Downs, Keeeneland, and Kentucky Downs.
Bobby's Kitten and Stephanie's Kitten are being pointed toward 2015 campaigns.
Voting (Only first-place votes from members of the consolidated voting entities: National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Daily Racing Form, and National Turf Writers and Broadcasters):
Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey, 179; Midwest Thoroughbreds, Inc., 21; Kaleem Shah, Inc., 20; Flaxman Holdings Ltd., 18; Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC, 12; Steven Coburn and Perry Martin, 6; Maggi Moss, 2; John Oxley, 1; Robert Evans, 1; Voter Abstentions, 5.