Ramseys Have Top Kitten's Joy Contender

For the past two years, Ken and Sarah Ramsey have ridden the success of progeny of their prolific sire Kitten's Joy   to Eclipse Awards as outstanding owners and breeders, so it is appropriate they would have a top contender in the Jan. 24 Kitten's Joy Stakes (gr. IIIT) at Gulfstream Park.



Ramsey homebred Chief Kitten, a son of Kitten's Joy, is the 120-pound highweight in the 12-horse field entered in the $100,000 turf test at one mile for 3-year-olds. It is the 11th race on a stakes-heavy Saturday card at Gulfstream Park, with an approximate post time of 5:38 p.m. EST.



Not only is the race named for the Ramseys' stallion, a champion grass horse who was leading North American sire in 2013. They also won the inaugural running of the Kitten's Joy in 2013 with their homebred Charming Kitten. Yes, you guessed it, Charming Kitten is by Kitten's Joy.



Bred by the Ramseys in New York, Chief Kitten is trained by Chad Brown, who captured last year's Kitten's Joy with Storming Inti.



After breaking his maiden against state-breds in his second start, Chief Kitten  finished off the board following a slow start and wide trip in the Dixiana Bourbon Stakes (gr. IIIT) at Keeneland. He bounced back to end his juvenile season winning the Pulpit Stakes by a nose under jockey Edgard Zayas at Gulfstream Park West.



"I thought he showed a lot of courage in that race," Brown said of the Pulpit victory. "He split horses, and I thought Zayas gave him a really good ride. He seems to have been training well since the race, so we're looking forward to running him."



Chief Kitten's two wins from four starts both have come at a mile on the grass and Browns said he believes the colt will go farther.



"He probably wants to run a bit further than that, but he can run a mile," Brown said. "We wanted to give him a little time between starts, and this seems like a logical spot for him."

A hard-luck second in the Pulpit, Croninthebarbarian will be making his second start of the year in the Kitten's Joy, three weeks after rallying to be third, beaten 1 1/4 lengths in the 7 1/2-furlong Dania Beach (gr. IIIT) at Gulfstream.



"The horse came out of the race great," said Zack Simms, son and assistant to trainer Garry Simms. "He's 100% right now. We just figured it's a good spot for him, so why not go?"



Owned by Ol Memorial Stable, whose partners include University of Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino and Outback Steakhouse founder Chris Sullivan of Tampa, Croninthebarbarian won the seven-furlong Kentucky Downs Juvenile and was sixth in the Bourbon, a neck ahead of Chief Kitten.



"He's tiny; really small," Zack Simms said. "He's a really small horse, but he's got heart. That's something that can't be bought. You'd think with a name like that he'd be a big, strapping horse. He's got a really big run. He'll give you his one big run and, last time, he was just a little light for that run."



Simms, 22, has taken over training duties for his 63-year-old father, a veteran Kentucky horseman who has been battling bone cancer since his diagnosis in December 2009.



"He's like Cronin; he's got a lot of heart," Simms said of his father. "Sometimes that can carry them farther than one might think."



Trainer Dale Romans entered two horses for the Kitten's Joy—Bravo Charlie and Stefochop. Bravo Charlie broke his maiden going a mile on the Gulfstream turf at odds of 14-1 in his furf debut Jan. 3, while Team Valor internatioanal's Stefochop will be making his North American debut after four starts last year in his native France.