Along the way, Tepin won five of seven starts in Florida, Kentucky, and New York. She was unbeaten in four starts at a mile. When it meant the most, she was at her best for owner Robert Masterson.
Stephanie’s Kitten won the BC Filly and Mare Turf at Keeneland on Oct. 31, making her a finalist for the Eclipse Award for the female turf division in 2015. She was a millionaire and a three-time stakes winner for the season.
Midwest Thoroughbreds Inc. of Richard and Karen Papiese first popped onto the national racing radar as a rapidly expanding claiming operation, a massive outfit that turned horses over frenetically and at its peak won 542 races in 2012 alone. Then came Work All Week, an Illinois-bred Midwest had bred itself, who ripped through 2014 winning every dirt race he contested, including the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. He was named champion sprinter that year, an amazing accomplishment for a volume operation that only had dabbled in stakes racing.
That myth had been born in 1986 when Dancing Brave, not just an Arc winner, but an English Derby winner that same year, shipped to Santa Anita and clunked home fourth in the BC Turf.
In September 2014, Ramsey Farm announced that their homebred ridgling Big Blue Kitten would be retired to stand stud for the 2015 breeding season in Kentucky, but by the time the breeding season rolled around, the decision had been made to bring Big Blue Kitten back for another racing season.
But it is funny how things work out. Stopchargingmaria did not reach her $3.15 million reserve at the 2014 Fasig-Tipton November sale. She was not sold at auction. Instead, she was purchased privately from owner Mike Repole by Town and Country Farms.
By the end of 2015, she was among the country’s leading fillies and mares – a two-time Grade 1 winner with an Eclipse-worthy résumé as finalist for outstanding older filly or mare.
David Fawkes trained 5-year-old Florida-bred Sheer Drama for owner-breeder Harold Queen. Though she was a sibling to 2010 champion sprinter Big Drama, Fawkes said the mare, sired by Burning Roma, did not resemble brother “not even remotely.”
A dazzling summertime victory in the Pacific Classic highlighted an unbeaten season for Beholder, a finalist for an Eclipse Award as the outstanding older filly or mare of 2015. It’s a new category for the two-time champion – Beholder won Eclipse Awards as the top 2-year-old filly of 2012 and the top 3-year-old filly of 2013.
Ahmed Zayat’s Zayat Stables had what could only be classified as a dream season in 2015, driven by the heroics of American Pharoah, the first horse to win the Triple Crown in 37 years and the first in history to win both the Triple Crown and the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
American Pharoah’s historic feat helped place Zayat Stables at the top of the North American owners list by earnings, with 215 starters winning 21 races for a combined $10,000,226.
Ken and Sarah Ramsey have essentially earned an annual reservation at the Eclipse Awards in recent years by believing in their own product and knowing when to believe in the products of others.
Last year, the Ramseys pulled off an unprecedented feat by sweeping the Eclipse Awards for outstanding owner and breeder for a second consecutive year. It was the fourth time the Nicholasville, Ky.-based couple won the owners’ Eclipse, having previously won it in 2004 and 2011.
