Kitten's Joy

[kimberley mine]

Anybody else notice his strike rate with Roberto and Khaled?

Roberto: Suntracer, Stephanie's Kitten, Real Solution, Admiral Kitten, Csaba, Holiday for Kitten, Fear the Kitten.

Khaled/Swaps/No Robbery: Suntracer, Dean's Kitten, Charming Kitten, Queensplatekitten, Artemus Kitten, Derby Kitten, Coalport.

There's also some evidence of a strong hit rate with Rough-n-Tumble and In Reality, but not nearly as strong as the who's who of his graded winners with Roberto and Khaled.

[Patuxet]

Not only doubling up on Roberto but sometimes even adding yet another stirp of Hail To Reason.

Ken Ramsey has pursued a wide-ranging but single-minded breeding objective in order to make Kitten's Joy as a stallion.

A two-part interview with Ramsey and his farm manager in which they outlined their modus operandi appeared in the TDN on May 23 and May 24. Here are links to it. Hope they work. Otherwise a sign-up is necessary.

http://www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/re ... 0523_1.pdf

http://www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/re ... pdf#page=7

[Georgerz]

Kitten's Joy is now at the top of the Sire List, per the Blood Horse, for 2013.

[Toccet02]

This is hardly scientific or objective, but in terms of the "color" and fun of the sport, I kind of hate it because no sooner did we get rid of many of the "cats", we got an onslaught of "kittens" . . .

[karenkarenn]

When I called the farmer manager for a Nick for my mare at the time Go GO Diablo/ Kittens Joy to be bred, I was snubbed. I was told that the Halo lines and the Roberto lines wouldn't work regardless of how much money my mare won or what she looked like.
I was left with a very bad taste in my mouth with that incident. I didn't appreciate their attitude. I guess its only closed to Ramsey's mares.
K

[Cree]

It's interesting to look at the stakes winning sons of Kitten's Joy that are complete (horse/colt), and what will happen with them.

A few I noticed have raced consistently since the Ramseys had them, but have been claimed and are now running cheaper. Kitten's Joy seems to throw some soundness.

I would like to know when he will start standing sons of Kitten's Joy. Can you predict who it will be?

Don't get me wrong, I like Kitten's Joy, and I am impressed by Ramseys ability to breed a damn good racehorse with that stallion. Does he have a retirement program in place (like Adena?).

[springboro]

When I called the farmer manager for a Nick for my mare at the time Go GO Diablo/ Kittens Joy to be bred, I was snubbed. I was told that the Halo lines and the Roberto lines wouldn't work regardless of how much money my mare won or what she looked like.
I was left with a very bad taste in my mouth with that incident. I didn't appreciate their attitude. I guess its only closed to Ramsey's mares.
K

I would also guess that her lack of any close up black type was a factor in their decision. 2nd and 3rd dams have good production, but first dam isn't a commercial mare at all.

[madelyn]

Load N Go is half sister to Buckle Down Ben, making Go Go Diablo a 1/2 sister to him also since she is by the same sire. There is certainly black type under the 2nd dam on that mare.

[hpkingjr]

Anybody else notice his strike

There's also some evidence of a strong hit rate with Rough-n-Tumble and In Reality, but not nearly as strong as the who's who of his graded winners with Roberto and Khaled.

Stakes winner today, Lien On Kitten, has In Reality. The dam also has four lines of Johnstown. Cant remember seeing that much Johnstown in many pedigrees.

http://www.pedigreequery.com/lien+on+kitten

[scrappyt]

It must be frustrating to have your mare turned down, but I can appreciate from Ramsey's point of view that they want to fill his book with the best mares for him that they can to give him the best chance to continue to have success. It sounds like they didn't say the mare was not good, just that in their opinion, she wasn't a good match for the stallion. Clearly, they are doing something right based on the success they have had with him. I have seen Claiborne turn away nice mares to their good stallions as well.
It's a good thing to know from a breeder's perspective as well. I'd rather have a mare be in a more "select" book of mares, rather than be 1 of 200+ that is willing to sign on the line to pay the stud fee.

[kimberley mine]

I had a bit of time and did a bit more digging.

What looked like a higher strike rate with Rough-n-Tumble or In Reality may actually be a higher strike rate with Aspidistra, and it's something KJ inherited from El Prado. (Medaglia D'Oro seems to have a similar affinity.) I think it's tied to Mahmoud.

Among El Prado's top 20 runners, three are out of three different Great Above mares. Go down to #22 and you get one out of an Unbridled mare. EP's next highest-earning runner from the Mr P line is out of a Fortunate Prospect mare--FP being tail-female to Bloodroot which is powerful for Sadlers Wells, but after that? It's a long way down to the next Mr P-line horse, whose second dam is by a son of Dr. Fager. It's striking, especially given the quality of Mr P as a broodmare sire.

Anyway, back to Kitten's Joy. Holiday for Kitten is out of a Cure the Blues mare, and Banned has Dr Fager on his page. A few others have The Axe II popping up, through Relaunch and other sources. It's not as strong a hit rate as Kris S/Roberto....partially because it probably has not been tried as much, and partially because finding turf-type horses with that kind of breeding (e.g. Quiet American probably isn't the best source) is less common than it used to be.

[LB]

kimberly mine, your posts are always interesting, and great reading. Thank you.

[Sysonby]

Load N Go is half sister to Buckle Down Ben, making Go Go Diablo a 1/2 sister to him also since she is by the same sire. There is certainly black type under the 2nd dam on that mare.

That's still not commercial. Second dam means third dam for the foal. As I recall, this mare was offered for sale at Barretts in foal to Songandaprayer and didn't bring the stud fee. And I say that not to disparage the horse, but to possibly explain their thought processes. I doubt it is as personal as painted but there is no question someone who is standing Kitten's Joy is in the catbird seat and doesn't have to accept any particular mare.

I got turned down by Vinery for Gilded Times for probably the same reason. The mare I submitted had a fantastic half sister by the stallion that showed a lot of promise. Two years later, the half sister was stakes placed and ran 4th in a Grade 1 beaten 2 lengths for the whole thing. I would have liked that Gilded Times but now he's in Canada. It happens.

[kimberley mine]

Add to the above new 2yo stakes winner Bobby's Kitten is out of a Forestry mare (Dr Fager) who is out of a Relaunch mare (The Axe II).

[hpkingjr]

Another 2 year old winner in a grade 3 at Keeneland.

http://www.pedigreequery.com/linebreedi ... n+kaboodle