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Charming Kitten stays best of all in inaugural Belmont Gold
Cup
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| Charming Kitten (outside) proved that his leading sire Kitten's Joy can get a two-mile winner as well
(Jessie Holmes/EquiSport Photos) |
Summoning a strong closing kick at the end of two miles over the Widener
turf, Ken and Sarah Ramsey's homebred Charming Kitten rolled past former
Canadian champion filly Irish Mission to capture the inaugural running of the
$200,000
Belmont Gold Cup Invitational at Belmont Park. The Todd Pletcher trainee,
who stopped the clock in 3:21 2/5 on the good course, earned his first stakes
victory since the 2013 Kitten's Joy -- the race named for his champion sire --
at Gulfstream Park.
"I've got the sire," Ken Ramsey beamed, "and a rising tide raises all ships,
you know? So that makes all the rest of them worth something, and it increases
the distance factor -- I mean, two miles, that's good advertising.
"We may have a grinder there today, but he got the job done. That's the first
two-mile winner for the sire."
Although the Belmont Gold Cup marked only his second career stakes win,
Charming Kitten has been an honest and genuine performer with seven stakes
placings to his credit, and the four-year-old was exiting a one-paced fourth in
the May 17 Dixie at Pimlico. The respective second and third from the Dixie, Hey
Leroy and Chamois, will appreciate the form boost ahead of Saturday's Grade 1
Manhattan, even if that represents a much greater class test than this marathon.
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Charming Kitten, the 5-1 third choice, was given a lovely midpack trip by
Hall of Famer John Velazquez. Up front, Come the Dream made the running through
sensibly slow fractions of :26, :52 2/5, 1:18, 1:43 4/5 and 2:09 1/5. Mambo Man
and 3-1 second choice Twilight Eclipse drew alongside the leader as they
advanced down the backstretch, while Irish Mission continued to hold her
stalking position just behind Come the Dream on the rail. Charming Kitten crept
closer to flank Irish Mission nearing the final turn.
Twilight Eclipse put Come the Dream away turning for home and tried to draw
off, but Irish Mission angled to the outside and delivered a strong challenge.
The mare took over from the tiring Twilight Eclipse, only to find Charming
Kitten accosting her on the outside and Reflecting diving through to her inside.
Irish Mission gallantly staved off Reflecting by a nose, but she could not
contain the winner.
Charming Kitten powered one length clear and returned $13 to win.
"It worked out perfect," Velazquez recapped. "He broke really well and got
into a really nice position, and he was tugging me along the whole way around.
He was going well the whole way around and when we got to the half-mile pole, I
tried to move a little bit and put him in the clear. He was tugging me so long
that when I went to ride him, it took him an eighth of a mile to get back into
the race. Finally, when he got down the lane he started running again, so it
worked out good."
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| Ken Ramsey (right) was thrilled to lead in another homebred stakes winner
(Jessie Holmes/EquiSport Photos) |
"(Velazquez) and I were on the same page," Pletcher said. "I told him to
break from the gate and gallop for two miles. I wanted to try to leave him
relaxed in the post parade and, hopefully, leave there settled. He gave him a
great ride; he had him covered up, and (Charming Kitten) relaxed really well. A
great trip."Twilight Eclipse reported home another 3 1/4 lengths behind Irish Mission and
Reflecting in fourth. Next came Sky Blazer, the steeplechaser Spy in the Sky,
Auld Alliance, Eagle Poise, slight 3-1 favorite Draw Two, Comes the Dream and
the tailed-off Mambo Man. Wings of Fortune was scratched.
Charming Kitten improved his resume to 19-5-5-2, $706,250, reflecting
placings in the 2012 With Anticipation and Dania Beach as a juvenile and the
2013 Blue Grass, Virginia Derby, Palm Beach, Hawthorne Derby and Penn Mile at
three. One of his rare poor efforts came in the Kentucky Derby, where he ended
up ninth.
Twice an allowance winner at 1 1/16 miles this season, on the Gulfstream turf
in January and on the Keeneland Polytrack in April, the dark bay had failed to
hit the board in his three stakes tries in 2014. He was sixth in the February 9
Gulfstream Park Turf, fifth in the March 29 Pan American in his only attempt
over so far as 1 1/2 miles, and fourth in the aforementioned Dixie.
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"Where do you go from a two-mile race?" Pletcher asked. "I guess you try to
stay stretched out and look at mile-and-a-half type races. We'll put all of
those in play. Kind of cool winning a two-mile race."
The Kentucky-bred Charming Kitten was produced by the Wild Again mare
Iteration, making him a full brother to multiple Grade 3-placed stakes scorer
Queen'splatekitten. His third dam is Irish classic-placed Lake Champlain, and
his fourth dam, Sensibility, is the ancestress of champion and successful sire
Theatrical; champion Paradise Creek; Japanese star Taiki Blizzard; and Grade 1
winners Forbidden Apple and Wild Event. This is the further family of 1964 Prix
de l'Arc de Triomphe hero *Prince Royal II and ill-fated champion Landaluce.
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