Trainer Wesley Ward said Ken and Sarah Ramsey’s homebred Holiday for Kitten was
“fantastic” the morning after she defeated 11 older rivals to win the
Thoroughbred Club of America (G2) at odds of 18-1. With the victory, the
3-year-old Kitten’s Joy filly earned a spot in the starting gate for
the Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) to be run
November 4 at Churchill Downs.
“Mr.
Ramsey is a sportsman and I’ll talk it over with the boss,” Ward said
about Holiday for Kitten’s next start. “I don’t know if he’ll go in that
race or possibly against the boys on the grass. She’s a tremendous
sprinter and she’s really certain to come into herself right now. It’s
late in her 3-year-old season. She beat the older fillies in the spring
and yesterday and maybe she could beat the boys a month from now.”
The race against the boys is the five-furlong Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G2) on November 5.
In
the meantime, Ward said Holiday for Kitten would remain at Keeneland
and possibly have two works here prior to the Breeders’ Cup.
“She
flourishes here,” he said. “Every time she comes here, she just starts
bucking and kicking and gets dappled out. She just loves being here.”
In
April, Holiday for Kitten became Ward’s first Keeneland stakes winner
when she won the Giant’s Causeway and set the 5 ½-furlong Polytrack
record with a time of 1:02.78. Yesterday’s win gave Ward his second
Keeneland stakes victory and the 100th Keeneland triumph for the Ramseys, who rank 10th all time in wins at the track.
In other TCA news:
Trainer Mike Stidham reported that third-place finisher Switch
was fine Sunday morning. Stidham said that her trainer, John Sadler,
had returned to California on Saturday night. Sadler had indicated last
week that Switch likely would stay in Kentucky for next month’s
Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs rather than ship back to California.