Death of Kitten's Joy leaves big shoes to fill

The death of Eclipse Award champion and perennial leading turf sire Kitten’s Joy last week widens the void atop the North American turf sire ranks, which lost fellow champion English Channel last fall.

Kitten’s Joy, a 21-year-old son of El Prado, was bred by Ken and Sarah Ramsey out of their foundation mare Kitten’s First, whose name was derived from Ken’s pet name for his wife, who died in May. They campaigned the chestnut to a championship season in 2004 and originally stood him on their Ramsey Farm in Nicholasville, Ky., beginning with the 2006 season. They later formed a partnership with John Sikura’s Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm to stand their champion at that farm, in Lexington, beginning with the 2018 season, while maintaining a significant interest.

The Hill ‘n’ Dale stallions moved to the former Xalapa Farm outside Paris, Ky., in 2020. Kitten’s Joy, who had been in good health, was turned out in his paddock early the morning of July 15. At about 10:30 a.m., he was found lifeless in the middle of the field. It is believed that he died of a cardiac event.

“It is devastating to lose both my wife and her favorite horse in such a short period of time,” Ken Ramsey said. “My wife said, ‘This horse will bring us a lot of joy,’ and he certainly did. . . . Kitten’s Joy was the horse of a lifetime.”

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Kitten’s Joy led the North American general sire list in 2013 and 2018 and was among the leading sires another four times. In that same span, he was the leading living turf sire every year from 2013 until 2020, when he was overtaken by English Channel. The latter, who stood at Lane’s End and then Calumet Farm, died following an illness last November, while he was leading the turf earnings list for a second time.

“Cannot be overstated the hole that the death of Kitten’s Joy leaves in the ranks of Kentucky stallions,” owner Brian Malloy of Kestrel Stud LLC posted on Twitter. “For those of us here trying to breed top-level turf horses, we have lost Kitten’s Joy, English Channel, and Get Stormy, all gone in the last seven months. We already miss them.”

A number of other perennial leading sires, many of them versatile classic sires, will attempt to step up and assume the turf sire crown. The top 10 currently living turf sires on the 2021 earnings list, removing Kitten’s Joy, English Channel, and the late City Zip from the list, were Uncle Mo, Into Mischief, More Than Ready, Twirling Candy, Temple City, War Front, American Pharoah, Hard Spun, Cairo Prince, and The Factor.

Several of those names are again prominent on the 2022 turf earnings list. Through July 17, the leading living sires on the North American turf earnings list are War Front, Temple City, Twirling Candy, Quality Road, Uncle Mo, More Than Ready, Into Mischief, Speightstown, Summer Front, and Cairo Prince.

It will be hard to measure up to Kitten’s Joy’s accomplishments, however. The stallion, who will have several more sizable crops to come on the racetrack, is the sire of 126 career stakes winners through July 17, led by Eclipse Award champion turf male Big Blue Kitten and Cartier Award European Horse of the Year Roaring Lion.

He is also the sire of Stephanie’s Kitten, who counted the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf and 2015 Filly and Mare Turf among her multiple Grade 1 wins; 2016 Juvenile Turf winner Oscar Performance, a Grade 1 winner at ages 2, 3, and 4; 2020 English 2000 Guineas winner Kameko; 2014 Turf Sprint winner Bobby’s Kitten; and Grade/Group 1 winners including Admiral Kitten, Chiropractor, Divisidero, Hawkbill, Henley’s Joy, Kitten’s Dumplings, Real Solution, Sadler’s Joy, and Tripoli.

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“This stallion is a tribute to one the modern era’s most creative minds, namely Ken Ramsey,” Sikura said. “This horse was a part of our family but perhaps even more so to the Ramsey family. This is a great loss to the industry and to the Ramseys.”

Kitten’s Joy is represented by 17 sons at stud worldwide, including several of the aforementioned accomplished runners whose stallion careers are nascent, giving the stallion a chance to increase his legacy. Oscar Performance (Mill Ridge Farm), Hawkbill (Darley Japan), and the late Roaring Lion (Tweenhills) have their first juveniles on the track this season; this will be the only crop for Roaring Lion, who died following a battle with colic.

Divisidero (Airdrie Stud) is represented by his first yearlings, while the first foals for Kameko (Tweenhills) arrived this year.

“I believe he [Kitten’s Joy] will leave a lasting legacy for our breed,” said Mill Ridge managing partner Headley Bell.