Kiss Moon Starts as 120-Pound High Weight in Cardinal
Carl F. Pollard’s Kiss Moon will attempt to land her second graded stakes win of the year when she starts as the 120-pound high weight and faces a dozen fillies and mares in Saturday’s 42nd running of the $100,000 Cardinal Handicap (Grade III) over 1 1/8 miles on Churchill Downs’ Matt Winn Turf Course.
In June, the 4-year-old daughter of Malibu Moon won Churchill Downs’ Old Forester Mint Julep Handicap (GIII) which gave trainer Dave Vance his first graded stakes triumph since My Trusty Cat won the 2005 Humana Distaff (GI).
“It feels good to have a nice horse like her in the barn when you only have about 10 or 12 to deal with,” Vance said. “Any good horse like Kiss Moon makes you feel a lot better as a trainer and makes you get up more willingly to come to work and watch them train.”
Aside from her career-highlighted victory in the Mint Julep, Kiss Moon has several other stakes triumphs on her résumé, which includes a victory in the Fasig-Tipton Ladies Turf Stakes at Kentucky Downs two starts back. As a 3-year-old, she won the Hatoof at Arlington Park and TaWee at Indiana Grand.
Vance believed that Kiss Moon would prove to be a good horse from the beginning because of her bloodlines. The filly’s dam, Kiss the Devil, won the Early Times Mint Julep (GIII) as a 5-year-old and was placed in multiple graded stakes races.
“It looked like when she came in that she had the bloodlines to be a runner and she’s definitely proved up to her ability,” he said. “Her half-sister [Kiss Mine] won five or six stakes. I still think she might be better next year.”
Vance expressed a touch of frustration with getting her to the races at the beginning of her 4-year-old campaign due to the weather conditions at Oaklawn Park, where he is based during the winter months.
“This year we could never get her into a good rhythm,” he said. “We had to run her in a Grade I [Churchill Distaff Turf Mile] first time out against the eventual winner of the Breeders’ Cup Mile [Tepin]. This summer we tried her at Mountaineer and that grass didn’t suit her. You’re always thankful to have one like her every once in a while.”
Vance stated that he is expecting to have Kiss Moon’s half-brother in his barn next year, who is by 2004 Horse of the Year Ghostzapper.
“That’ll be the first colt out of that mare,” he said. “The two mares we kept, Kiss Mine and Kiss Moon were great. It was really fortunate for me that they didn’t sell at the sale. It gave me a chance to have a better horse in my barn.”
The Cardinal Handicap field from the rail out (with jockeys and assigned weight): American Mon Amie (Channing Hill, 111 pounds); Faufiler (IRE) (Stephane Pasquier, 115); Wiener Valkyrie (GB) (Shaun Bridgmohan, 115); Invading Humor (Ricardo Santana Jr., 116); Lady Fog Horn (Albin Jimenez, 112); Sistas Stroll (Drayden Van Dyke, 115); Bitty Kitty (Corey Lanerie, 117); Lacy (GER) (Joe Rocco Jr., 115); Emotional Kitten (Mario Pino, 117); Street of Gold (Chris Landeros, 114); Button Down (GB) (Paco Lopez, 118); Kiss Moon (Julien Leparoux, 120); and Annulment (Jon Court, 116).
The Cardinal will go as Race 10 of 11 on Saturday at 5:15 p.m. ET.
Source: Churchill Downs