Dean's Kitten roars in Lane's End

"I really like this horse," Velasquez said. "He's why I came here today. He

has a lot of try. He loves Polytrack. He can run on grass, but this is his

track. Mr. Maker never gave me any instructions. I just wanted to keep him off

the pace. I had a ton of horse at the top of the stretch. I was very confident

in him. He's a nice horse."

"We were looking for just what we got," Maker stated. "He did not get good

trips at Gulfstream (this winter). That course has been favoring speed horses

all meet so we pointed for this race and it paid off for us."

Northern Giant (Giant's Causeway) offered a good rally from midpack to pose a

threat on the far outside as Dean's Kitten passed the eighth-pole with a

one-length advantage in 1:37 4/5, but he lost ground in the

final furlong while easily finishing second-best.

The winner paid $15, $6.20 and $3.40 as the 6-1 third choice, and Northern

Giant returned $5.40 and $3.40 at 7-2. It was 3 1/4 lengths back to the

late-running Connemara (Giant's Causeway), who never got seriously involved as

the 8-5 favorite and gave back $2.10. Chief Counsel (Officer), Vow to Wager

(Broken Vow), Letsgetitonmon (Maria's Mon), Outlaw Man (Forest Wildcat), Doubles

Partner (Rock Hard Ten) and Ranger Heartley came next under the wire, and Kettle

River (Congaree) was withdrawn.

The exotics totaled $62.40 (exacta), $186 (trifecta) and $2,239.60 (9-7-1-3

superfecta).

With the $291,000 payday, Dean's Kitten has now earned $418,495 from a

11-3-1-2 line. Winner of the grassy Vision S. last season, the Kentucky-bred

concluded his juvenile campaign with a pair of sixth-place finishes in the

Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G2) and Grand Canyon H. He finished a close fourth

when making his sophomore debut in the Hallandale Beach and exited a

fast-closing second in the aforementioned Palm Beach.

Dean's Kitten is out the winning Summer Theatre (Ide), who is also the dam of

the juvenile colt Mr. Chartbuster (Castledale [Ire]) and the yearling filly

Ohthejewel (Othello). His third dam is 1979 Spinster (G1) winner Safe (No

Robbery).