Already a Breeders' Cup winner, Stephanie's Kitten made sure she'll be getting a second chance at a Breeders' Cup victory this year when she won the Sept. 27 Flower Bowl Stakes, a "Win and You're In" race for the Filly and Mare Turf.
The now 5-year-old won the 2011 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf but hasn't run in the Breeders' Cup since, something that will change on Nov. 1. So without farther ado, let's get to know Stephanie's Kitten, one of five horses looking to add another Breeders' Cup victory to their resume.
Racing Resume
Stephanie's Kitten won her second start as a 2-year-old on the grass at Arlington Park. Two starts later, she became a Grade 1 winner on the synthetic Polytrack surface at Keeneland, which has subsequently been replaced with a dirt main track, when she won the Darley Alcibiades by 1½ lengths with John Velazquez aboard for the first time.
For the first time in her career, Stephanie's Kitten scored a three-figure Equibase Speed Figure in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, earning a 100 when she beat Stopshoppingmaria by three-quarters of a length on the Churchill Downs turf course. Stephanie's Kitten had hearts racing in the stretch as she was in striking distance of Stopshoppingmaria but didn't get the lead until the last 50 yards of the race. That edition of the Juvenile Fillies Turf has proved deep in quality with 12 of the 14 fillies at least placing in a graded stakes races during their careers. Of those 12, nine are graded stakes winners and five have won Grade or Group 1 races.
The next year Stephanie's Kitten finished third in the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes in her season debut before getting back to her winning ways in the Edgewood Stakes. She also scored in the Grade 2 Lake Placid Stakes that year before calling it a season after finishing sixth in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes.
As an older horse, Stephanie's Kitten has beefed up her resume in 2013 and 2014. She walked away with two graded stakes wins in her first two races in 2013, both at a mile, before finishing second in the Grade 1 Diana Stakes at 1 1/8 miles. The filly was found to be bone sore after the Diana and called it a season, earning $533,655 and taking home Grade 1 and Grade 2 victories with another Grade 1 placing, not too shabby for only three starts that year.
There were a few questions after Stephanie's Kitten's first few starts this year with her finishing eighth and fifth, respectively. But earning a pair of seconds in Grade 1 races before winning the Flower Bowl has quieted, if not silenced, those doubters. After finishing second to Somali Lemonade by a neck in the Diana at Saratoga, Stephanie's Kitten didn't disgrace herself with a second to Euro Charline in the Beverly D. Stakes. Before the race, the Beverly D. was regarded as the toughest race on the card, a fact that has been drilled in even more with five of the nine horses who finished behind Stephanie's Kitten winning stakes races since that Beverly D.
In the Flower Bowl, Velazquez was back on board after giving up the mount to Frankie Dettori over the summer. Stephanie's Kitten sat closer than she had in previous races in 2014 and it paid off. She took the lead in midstretch and didn't look back, winning by 1¼ lengths, her first victory since the Just a Game Stakes in June 2013.
"It doesn't get any better than that," Velazquez said. "We broke well enough, and I wanted to make sure I got a nice position going into the first turn. 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."
Stephanie's Kitten has spent time as a closer, including her runner-up finish in the Beverly D., but many of her wins have come when she's been either midpack or only a few lengths off the pace. The biggest key to Stephanie's Kitten seems to be to have her close enough to the leader that her closing kick propels her to the front. When she is farther back in the field, she doesn't seem to be able to use he finishing speed as effectively as when she has a close sight on the lead.
From a speed-figure standpoint, the Flower Bowl produced Stephanie's Kitten's best-ever Equibase Speed Figure with a 117. The figure puts her squarely around the top of the division, third only to Deceptive Vision and Royal Fury. From her performances over the last few races, she'll definitely be a threat in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf, especially now that she is proven at 1 1/4 miles.
Pedigree
Stephanie's Kitten is by arguably the best turf sire standing in America, Kitten's Joy, and she is out of the Catienus mare Unfold the Rose.
Kitten's Joy was named 2004 champion turf male in the U.S. and has already sired three champions and 53 stakes winners from six crops of racing age. Among his notable North American runners, other than Stephanie's Kitten, are 2013 Sword Dancer Invitational winner Big Blue Kitten, 2013 Arlington Million winner Real Solution, and 2013 Secretariat Stakes winner Admiral Kitten.
While Unfold the Rose never raced, her dam, Bail Out Becky, won the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks. Kitten's Joy has been a good match for this family as Unfold the Rose is a half-sister to Puerto Rican champion Ransom the Kitten. Included under Bail Out Becky's name is Becky Loves Silver, the dam of Peru champion Fly Lexis Fly, who was also Grade 1-placed in America.
Digging deeper, one finds elite sire and Grade 1 winner More Than Ready joining the family under Stephanie's Kitten's third dam, with Hollywood Gold Cup winner Cutlass Reality under her fourth dam. Basically, Stephanie's Kitten's pedigree provides part of the stamina, speed, and ability on grass that makes her such a dangerous mare in races.
Stephanie's Kitten probably won't go off as the favorite in the race with Europeans such as Dank and Just the Judge aiming for the Filly and Mare Turf, but if she runs to her Flower Bowl form she will be a major threat to win her second Breeders' Cup race the first weekend in November.
