Stephanie's Kitten targets return in Hillsborough at Tampa Bay Downs

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Stephanie’s Kitten most likely will make her seasonal debut at Tampa Bay Downs in the Grade 3, $150,000 Hillsborough, a 1 1/8-mile turf race March 8, according to trainer Chad Brown.

“She’s been training very well, and we’re looking forward to having her back to the races,” Brown said this week from Palm Meadows.

Stephanie’s Kitten, 5, has been a divisional standout every year for owner-breeders Ken and Sarah Ramsey since she won the Grade 1 Alcibiades and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf as a 2-year-old of 2011. Last year, she won the Grade 1 Just a Game during a three-race campaign cut short by injury.

Wayne Catalano had trained Stephanie’s Kitten, an earner of $1,640,404, for her entire 13-race career until the Ramseys turned her over to Brown last fall. The move caused a rift among Catalano and the Ramseys, and they since have split up.

Meanwhile, another Ramsey homebred, Bobby’s Kitten, also is “very close to a race,” said Brown, although “we haven’t finalized just where he’ll start out.” Bobby’s Kitten, a 3-year-old colt, ran four times last year, all on turf, ending with a third-place finish as a heavy favorite in the BC Juvenile Turf.

Brown said a move to synthetic and ultimately to dirt would not be out of the question as the year unfolds for Bobby’s Kitten.

“We’re keeping all our options open,” he said.