Stephanie’s Kitten will look to start the season with a win in the Ashland Stakes
The 3-year-old filly, Stephanie's Kitten, was a prominent filly as a juvenile, and she showed her potential and skills on the track becoming the leading juvenile filly of the year 2011. The time has come for the Wayne M. Catalano trained filly to make her 2012 debut, and her connections have chosen the Grade 1, $500,000 Central Bank Ashland Stakes as the season opener set to go underway on the opening weekend at Keeneland on 7 April, 2012.
The Ashland Stakes will be run over a distance of 1 1/16 miles over the venue’s synthetic surface, and the race has reeled in seven, 3-year-old fillies, and each filly will carry 121 pounds.
Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey owned3-year-old filly, Stephanie's Kitten, last year ran her debut race over synthetic surface but failed to land her maiden race at first asking as she finished third, but she did it in her second attempt on turf at Arlington Park at about a mile.
She was then sent to Canada to run in the Grade 3 Natalma Stakes, but the 1 mile turf course race was a little too much for the young filly as she finished third to winner Northern Passion.
Keeneland was her next stop, and it was a successful stop as the filly downed her first meaningful race when she won the Grade 1 Alcibiades Stakes over a distance of 1 1/16 miles.
The Kentucky bred daughter of Kitten’s Joy, out of mare Unfold the Rose by Catienus, Stephanie's Kitten capped off her juvenile season with a win in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf last fall at Churchill Downs.
Stephanie's Kitten could make history in Ashland Stakes, if she goes on to win it, she will become the fifth filly in history to win Alcibiades/Ashland double.
Stephanie's Kitten has drawn the far outside post, and she will be riding under jockey Julien Leparoux, who has never ridden the filly before.
Her connections are looking to bypass the Kentucky Oaks for a run in the Group 1 Coronation Stakes in England at the Royal Ascot this June.
“It’s a way to enable Kitten’s Joy to become a world-class sire,” said Ramsey about the overseas journey.
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