Luck of the Kitten heads deep Transylvania field
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The threat of heavy rain for opening day at Keeneland opens the possibility that the featured race, the Transylvania Stakes, might have to be moved from the turf to the main track. That’d be a shame.
As it stands, the Grade 3, $100,000 Transylvania has attracted one of its deepest field in years, with 13 turf-savvy 3-year-olds having been entered in the 1 1/16-mile race. Luck of the Kitten, the runner-up in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf last fall, is among the principals, along with Eh Cumpari and Night Prowler, both graded stakes winners on the Gulfstream Park turf this winter.
There are just two turf races carded for Friday, and if conditions are not too severe, Keeneland officials say they will at least try to keep the Transylvania on the grass if they can.
If so, Luck of the Kitten will take tons of catching, assuming the colt performs the way he did in the Breeders’ Cup. Bred and owned by Ken and Sarah Ramsey, the son of Kitten’s Joy was based at Turfway Park this winter, where he had four works over Polytrack.
“He’s the kind of horse that doesn’t need a lot to be ready,” trainer Wesley Ward said this week from Florida while preparing to travel here for opening weekend. “You can overtrain a horse like him. I really think he’s ready to go for this race. He’ll run in this race and at Churchill on Derby Day [in the American Turf], and then Mr. Ramsey and I are hoping to send him to Ascot for the St. James’s Palace.”
This will be the 27th running of the Transylvania, which is named for the local university founded in 1780.
KEY CONTENDERS
Luck of the Kitten (Last 3 Beyers: 79-84-74)
◗ This free-running colt might face some early pressure from Fair Grounds shipper Tuba, but otherwise, he looks like the dominant speed in here, and no doubt the classiest. A wire-to-wire stakes score over the Santa Anita turf in October was followed by his big effort in the Breeders’ Cup, when his Ward stablemate Hootenanny forged past him in the final 100 yards.
◗ He will be racing without blinkers for the first time in six career starts when breaking from post 10 under Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith, who rode him in the Breeders’ Cup.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 10 Luck of the Kitten. Trainer Wesley Ward is 37-1-5-3 with a $0.37 ROI over the past five years when removing blinkers in turf routes; also 29-4-2-2 with a $0.97 ROI over the past five years in turf routes following a layoff of 180 days or more. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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Eh Cumpari (Last 3 Beyers: 78-74-61)
◗ This Elusive Quality colt went last to first in capturing the Grade 3 Palm Beach in his last start and continues to make commendable progress for Michael Dilger, a former Todd Pletcher assistant.
Night Prowler (Last 3 Beyers: 74-80-75)
◗ He was fifth as the favorite behind Eh Cumpari in the Palm Beach after what trainer Chad Brown described as “a nightmare trip.” Before that, the Paul Pompa homebred notched his first career stakes win in the Grade 3 Dania Beach.
A Lot (Last 3 Beyers: 85-79-68)
◗ Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott has a number of promising 3-year-old turf types in his barn, including Spiral Stakes winner Dubai Sky and the stakes-placed Courtier. With a last-out Gulfstream triumph, this Tapit colt is showing signs of becoming a good one, too.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 4 A Lot. Trainer Bill Mott is 21-7-4-3 with a $2.89 ROI over the past six months in turf routes with John Velazquez aboard. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan