Cat Royale likely to improve in Pat Whitworth Illinois Debutante

Cat Royale might have gotten a little tired and might have gotten a little lost making her career debut Nov. 12 in the $75,000 Showtime Deb Stakes, and with typical second-start improvement she should be formidable Saturday at Hawthorne in the $50,000 Pat Whitworth Illinois Debutante.

The Debutante, carded at six furlongs for Illinois-bred 2-year-old fillies made eligible to the race starting in October 2021, drew a field of 10 composed of eight runners from the Showtime Deb and two Chris Block-trained maidens.

Showtime Deb winner Mom’s Town is among Saturday’s entrants, but she has less room to improve in her seventh start than Cat Royale does in her second.

Bred and owned by Steve and Diane Holland’s S D Brilie and trained by Michele Boyce, Cat Royale can keep the Debutante in the family, her half-sister Purr Sea having landed the 2021 renewal. Purr Sea is by Midshipman, Cat Royale by Animal Kingdom, and both fillies were produced by Kitty’s Castle, another homebred for the Hollands who was trained by Boyce.

Someone liked something about Cat Royale in the Showtime Deb, where she went off the 6-5 favorite, stalked the pace from third, took the lead in upper stretch, but flattened out the final furlong, passed by Mom’s Town and late-running Joyzella.

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Cat Royale appeared to be going well enough at the quarter pole and might merely have come up short in her first race, but she also ran through the homestretch with her head cocked somewhat to the right, as though she was processing a new experience more than fully participating.

Boyce worked her back once since the race, Chris Emigh retains the mount, and Cat Royale seems very likely to offer a meaningfully lower price than her 7-2 morning-line suggests.

As for the Larry Rivelli-trained Mom’s Town, she lost four straight maiden-claimers before winning the Showtime Deb. Since that was her first dirt sprint, it’s possible the filly has found her niche.

Don’t discount one of the Block maidens, Miss River Rat. Facing nine open turf-sprint maidens in her career debut and lone start, Miss River Rat was slow into stride from her rail draw before finishing with good energy for third. She’s by Will Take Charge and out of the good Illinois-bred racemare Peyote Patty, who was best in turf routes but not hapless on dirt, and whose best foal to race, Wile E. Peyote, was an Illinois stakes-class sprinter.

Hawthorne this week moved up first post to 12:55 p.m. Central. The Debutante, race 6 on an eight-race program, has a scheduled post time of 3:17.

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