Big Blue Kitten will skip Breeders' Cup Turf, point to Japanese stakes

ARCADIA, Calif. – Big Blue Kitten will not start Saturday in the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita and is under consideration for two stakes in Japan in November and December, owner and breeder Ken Ramsey said Sunday.

Ramsey said the $768,600 Fukushima Kinen over 1 1/4 miles on turf Nov. 16 at Fukushima Racecourse and the $3.8 million ArimaKinen over 1 9/16 miles on turf Dec. 28 at Nakayama Racecourse are under consideration.

“I’m thinking about Japan,” Ramsey said by phone from Kentucky. “The money is big over there. The plan is to think about that. I’d like to run if we can get quarantine done in time.”

Big Blue Kitten, whom Ramsey owns with his wife, Sarah, was second to Hillstar in the Grade 1 Canadian International at Woodbine on Oct. 19.

Trained by Chad Brown, Big Blue Kitten has won 11 of 23 starts and earned $1,465,830. He has won four stakes, including two Grade 1 races in 2013 – the United Nations Stakes at Monmouth Park and the Sword Dancer Stakes at Saratoga. Big Blue Kitten was eighth in the 2013 BC Turf at Santa Anita.

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The BC Turf is expected to have 13 runners, including five European-trained starters – Brown Panther, Chicquita, Flintshire, Magician, and Telescope.

The top American-based horse is Main Sequence, who arrived Saturday at Santa Anita from trainer Graham Motion’s base in Maryland and jogged Sunday at Santa Anita.

“He’ll have a proper gallop on Monday,” Motion said.

Main Sequence is unbeaten in three Grade 1 races since joining Motion’s stable from England last winter. A 5-year-old gelding, Main Sequence’s streak includes wins in the United Nations Stakes, the Sword Dancer Stakes, and the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont Park on Sept. 27. In England, Main Sequence was second in the 2012 English Derby.

On Sunday, Brown Panther jogged on the main track. He was the only European-based Breeders’ Cup runner to exercise at Santa Anita.

Brown Panther was scratched from Grade 1 Canadian International at Woodbine on Oct. 19 after running loose in the post parade. He arrived Friday from Canada.

A large contingent of European runners from England and France for Breeders’ Cup races arrived Saturday. They will clear quarantine in coming days. The French horses are expected to begin racetrack activity Monday, with the English going to the track a day later.

A group of Breeders’ Cup runners trained by Aidan O’Brien is expected to arrive Monday evening at Santa Anita. O’Brien trains Magician, the winner of the 2013 BC Turf, and Chicquita, third in the QIPCO British Champion Fillies and Mares Stakes at Ascot on Oct. 18.

Chicquita was 15th in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Paris on Oct. 5. Flintshire, the runner-up in that field, is projected as the favorite for the BC Turf.