Wesley Ward aims at the Sir Beaufort Stakes with Cozy Kitten at Santa Anita Park
Trainer Wesley Ward arrives from Florida for Christmas Holidays and his visit has a dual purpose, to meet his family and to run his 3-year-old colt, Cozy Kitten, in the Grade 2 Sir Beaufort Stakes over at a mile, restricted for 3-year-old males one the opening
day of the Santa Anita meet, 26 December, 2011.
“Wesley is coming in with his wife (Kim) to see her grandmother. He was going to be here next Monday anyway, so he said, ‘We might as well run.’”
On 22 December, Cozy Kitten worked four furlongs ahead of the Sir Beaufort Stakes over at Santa Anita Park’s turf course where the sophomore colt covered the distance in 48.60 seconds.
Trainer Blake Heap is training Cozy Kitten on behalf of Wesley Ward and he was of the view “He worked real good around the dogs,” Heap said. “He’s doing really well.
The Kentucky bred son of Kitten’s Joy, out of mare Caterette by Cozzene, Cozy Kitten is coming off a seventh place finish in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby to winner Ultimate Eagle at Hollywood Park on 27 November, 2011, over a marathon distance of 1 ¼ miles
which Ultimate Eagle covered in 2 minute and 1.43 seconds.
“He had a lot of trouble in the race,” Heap said. “He might want a little longer than the one mile of the Sir Beaufort, but hopefully we’ll have opportunities later in the meet in the turf marathons at a mile and a half and the San Juan Capistrano (at about
1 ¾ miles) on closing day.”
On 17 September, 2011, Cozy Kitten won at Kentucky Downs going a distance of 1 mile on turf in the Franklin-Simpson Mile, where he defeated Bergerac in second and Karama in third, and in the process covered the distance in 1 minute and 40.70 seconds.
In between Frank-Simpson Mile and Hollywood Derby, Cozy Kitten ran in the Grade 2 Oak Tree Derby at Santa Anita Park, going over a distance of 1 1/8 miles on turf where he finished a solid third to winner Ultimate Eagle, as Venomous finished second.
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