Kappa Kappa fights back for upset win in Raven Run
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Kappa Kappa wasn’t even in the Raven Run Stakes until scratches allowed her to draw into the field from the also-eligible list. When the dust settled, the filly found herself in the Keeneland winner’s circle, capturing the Grade 2, $400,000 Raven Run by a head over Vodka With a Twist.
Ragtime, the 6-5 favorite, got her usual trip, rallying from the back of the pack, but while she gained ground at the wire, Ragtime fell a half-length short of the two longshots ahead of her.
Kappa Kappa, a 27-1 chance, paid $56.06 while making her stakes debut, while Vodka With a Twist went off at odds of 20-1. Vodka With a Twist, ranging up four wide into the stretch of this seven-furlong dirt contest, looked a certain winner at the eighth pole after overtaking Kappa Kappa. When passed, Kappa Kappa still had failed to change leads, but once jockey John Velazquez finally got her to switch to her right lead, Kappa Kappa came again, fighting back on the inside of Vodka With a Twist to get up in the last two strides.
Usha, the Bob Baffert-trained 3-1 second choice, contested moderate splits of 22.81 and 45.93 before calling it a day, fading to seventh. The 7-1 third choice Simply Joking had a terrible trip from the start and checked in ninth of 10. Last-place Tetiaroa also drew into the race after three horses in the field’s main body – Vixen, Strong State, and Volleyballprincess – were scratched.
Kappa Kappa broke sharply under Velazquez, who, remarkably, won his fifth stakes race of this short meet. Stacked three wide around the turn while outside of Usha and Delightful Claire, Kappa Kappa surged to the front in upper stretch but fell back to second past the furlong grounds before the belated lead change sparked her comeback victory.
Ragtime, last of 10 during the early and middle stages, and disadvantaged by the tepid tempo, made a looping move, came very wide through the homestretch, and turned in a creditable performance in defeat.
Kappa Kappa, trained by Butch Reid for LC Racing, Cash Is King, and Wellesley Stable, was timed in 1:23.90 over a fast if somewhat laboring main track. Bred in Pennsylvania by Stone Jug Ranch, Kappa Kappa is by Omaha Beach out of Pharoah’s Princess, by Pioneerof the Nile.
Kappa Kappa made just her fourth start and first away from Reid’s base at Parx Racing. There, Kappa Kappa won her debut, finished a well-beaten second stretched from a sprint to a two-turn mile in allowance competition, and in her most recent race showed good speed on the way to a blowout 6 1/2-furlong score over fellow Pennsylvania-breds. That race came up fast enough to put Kappa Kappa in the Raven Run mix if she could produce it away from home and against much better competition. She could and she did. Kappa Kappa didn’t just draw into the Raven Run. She left an indelible mark on it.
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