Kitcat preps for Breeders' Cup Mile in Swingtime Stakes

ARCADIA, Calif. – Kitcat, a Group 1 winner in her native Chile, will have her American debut in Saturday’s $70,000 Swingtime Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile on turf at Santa Anita.

Kitcat is using the race as a prep for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile here on Nov. 5. A 4-year-old, Kitcat has won her last four starts and earned a fees-paid berth in the BC Mile with her win in the Group 1 Club Hipico Falabella Stakes in Chile on May 22, her most recent start.

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Kitcat was sent to California shortly after that race and has been in steady training. She has recorded five workouts. On Sept. 30, she worked a half-mile on dirt in a quick 46.20 seconds, the fastest of 52 works at the distance. Kitcat is trained by Sebastian Silva, who accompanied the filly from Chile. Silva’s father, Juan Carlos, trained Kitcat in Chile.

Kitcat, by Scat Daddy, has never raced outside of Chile, where she has won 7 of 13 starts. She has won six stakes, including two Group 1 races. Jockey Gonzalo Ulloa, her regular rider, will have his first mount in the United States in the Swingtime Stakes, which drew a field of 10.

The race is restricted to fillies and mares who have not won a stakes this year worth $60,000 or more to the winner at a mile or longer, other than statebred races.

The Swingtime will be the American stakes debut of Into the Mystic, who won an optional claimer at Del Mar for owner Rick Porter and trainer Richard Mandella. Into the Mystic won three races in France in 2015.