By Jack Werk
In case you haven’t noticed, Medaglia d’Oro, the subject of several posts here, isn’t the only young son of El Prado showing promise at stud. El Prado’s champion son Kitten’s Joy (click here to view stallion directory page), the Eclipse Award winner for best turf male in 2004, has 8 winners from his first crop of 2-year-olds, which ties him for 3rd on the first-crop list by winners (click here to view chart) with Pollard’s Vision. They are behind only Wildcat Heir (click here to read previous post), who leads the pack with 13, and Roman Ruler.
Wildcat Heir, by the speedy Forest Wildcat, was a G1-winning sprinter who was also G2-placed at 2, so you can understand his fast break out of the gate! In MAJOR contrast, Kitten’s Joy broke his maiden at 9 furlongs on the turf and was a G1 winner at 12 furlongs on turf. Conventional wisdom says that a 12-furlong turf horse has no business being on a list of leading 2-year-old winners, but there he is at Number 3 as of August 13, with, I believe, his best still ahead of him. You would have to assume these 2-year-old winners can only get better with age and distance!
After the fast start at stud of Medaglia d’Oro, who like Kitten’s Joy was a route horse that won G1s at 10 furlongs and was 2nd in the G1 Belmont at 12 furlongs, Kitten’s Joy is showing early signs of becoming another successful son at stud for his excellent sire, a son of the legendary Sadler’s Wells.
When El Prado went to stud at Airdrie for $7,500, it would have been difficult to predict his future success as a stallion in North America. He was a turf horse and relatively unknown to American breeders. But, a success he has been! In 2009, his stud fee was listed as $75,000. A G1 winner at 2 at 7 furlongs and a G2 winner at a mile, El Prado won 4 of 6 at 2 and didn’t win in 3 starts at 3. He was an Irish champion 2-year-old, and as a son of Sadler’s Wells he was bound to inject stamina into pedigrees, too. What was unexpected, at the time anyway, was El Prado’s ability to sire quality dirt runners, which he has. In fact, 28 of his 58 unrestricted SWs have won on the dirt! Medaglia d’Oro is a testament to that. There are many others, too, like G1 Jockey Club Gold Cup and G1 Pacific Classic winner Borrego (also at stud), G1 Spinster Stakes winner Asi Siempre, etc.
But El Prado, as a son of Sadler’s Wells, also sired superb turf horses. Kitten’s Joy is a testament to that! And there are many others, too, like G1 Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Artie Schiller (also at stud). You can say that El Prado has broken down the barrier in North America for the Sadler’s Wells line, and Medaglia d’Oro, with 10 SWs to date and classic winner Rachel Alexandra from his first crop, has busted down the doors! Now, it appears, the chances are good that Kitten’s Joy will be another to carry the flag for this line in North America.
The Sadler’s Well’s line had its first major success in a North American classic when Not Impossible’s Not Bourbon won the 10-furlong Queen’s Plate last year. Not Impossible was an unraced son of Sadler’s Wells. His full brother, G1 winner Perfect Soul, also struck in the Canadian classics this year when his son Perfect Shower won the 12-furlong Breeders’ Stakes on turf. Throw in Rachel Alexandra’s conquest of colts in the Preakness, and that makes 3 North American classic winners for the Sadler’s Wells line in 2 years! And get this, the races were on dirt (Preakness), all weather (Queen’s Plate), and turf (Breeders’ Stakes)!
This brings me to why I’m impressed with Kitten’s Joy. He’s siring true to his pedigree and racing form. All his winners to date in North America have won on either turf or synthetics! And, more importantly, they’ve won some pretty good maiden specials over a distance of ground. Look at his prominent winners to date:
Scottkeith’skitten, a colt, won a 1 1/16-mile $51,000 MSW @Saratoga on turf
Dean’s Kitten, a colt, won a 1 1/16-mile $51,000 MSW @ Saratoga on turf
Foot Fault, a colt, won a 1-mile $25,000 MSW @Ellis on turf
William’s Kitten, a colt, won a 1-mile $25,000 MSW @Ellis on turf
Kid Canuck, a colt, won a 6-furlong $66,000 MSW @Woodbine on all weather
Maddy’s Odyssey, a filly, won a 4½-furlong $36,000 MSW @Presque Isle on all weather AND came back to run 3rd in a Stakes at Colonial Downs
Besides the impressive start at stud, there are other reasons why I like Kitten’s Joy, too. With all due respect to his owners and breeders, Mr. and Mrs. Ken Ramsey, Kitten’s Joy has not been bred to the strongest group of commercial mares, yet he’s putting out some nice 2-year-old winners at a fast clip. I read somewhere that Ken Ramsey, with whom I shared a water taxi in Dubai years ago when he was there with Roses in May, said he claimed a bunch of mares in the $50,000 range to breed to his stallion. Well, the Ramseys know how to breed racehorses – Dubai World Cup winner Roses in May, Kitten’s Joy, G1 winner Precious Kitten, etc. – and they are doing ok in the stallion business, too. Take a close look at their Catienus, whom they claimed too! He’s got 20 SWs from 6 crops to race. (I happen to own a daughter of Catienus from a Ramsey family, and many of her half-sisters have been bred to Kitten’s Joy, so I’ll have a rooting interest in his future success, too!)
The big question is: What can this stallion do with better mares? If he continues at his current pace, he’s bound to get them in the next year or two.