Kitten's Roar rumbles home in Ramsey Farm Stakes

Ken Ramsey accomplished his goal of presenting the trophy of Kentucky Downs’ newly renamed Ramsey Farm Stakes to himself. Well, actually, Jeff Ramsey presented his dad with the trophy after heavy favorite Kitten’s Roar roared to a 2 1/4-length victory over the late-running Tricky Escape in the $350,000 race on closing day at Kentucky Downs.

Immediately thereafter, the Ramseys accepted their fifth straight trophy as leading owner at Kentucky Downs, with Kitten’s Roar giving them their fourth victory of the meet. Three were in stakes, including Oscar Nominated in the meet’s signature $600,000, Grade 3 Calumet Farm Kentucky Turf Cup and Sir Dudley Digges in the $150,000 Old Friends Stakes.

“I thought we had the best horse in the race. She’d been running against the best in Grade 1 races,” Ken Ramsey said. “But a track like Kentucky Downs, with all the rain, you never know. So I was see her glad to open up and coast home.”

Played out before what turned into a sunny day following morning drizzle, the 5-year-old Kitten’s Roar also gave Mike Maker his eighth win of the meet to secure his third straight Kentucky Downs trainer’s title. Maker won four stakes, the three for the Ramseys and the $350,000, Grade 3 Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint with Michael Hui’s 8-year-old Hogy.

Kitten’s Roar, a daughter of the Ramsey Farm standout stallion Kitten’s Joy, had done very well running in tough Grade 1 stakes, and as such was sent off the 7-10 favorite. With Jose Ortiz in the saddle, she ran to her odds, settling a couple of lengths off the pace set by stablemate Daring Duchess, swinging six wide into the stretch and shooting to the lead.

“It’s wonderful to win the leading owner’s title down here for the fifth consecutive year and have my stallion Kitten’s Joy be the leading sire, and to win with one of his offspring the inaugural Ramsey Farm Stakes, that’s a pretty special day today,” said Ken Ramsey, who races in partnership with his wife, Sarah. “We brought out the heavy artillery. We thought Daring Duchess might get a piece of it. She set the pace, did her job, and ended up running well. And the big gun fired.”

It was another 5 1/4 lengths back to Queen Blossom, followed by Daring Duchess, Sweet Tapper, Place des Vosges, La Piba, Quiet Business and Gotachancetodance in the field of nine fillies and mares. Paige and Sister Blues were scratched.

“The trip was perfect. Just what I wanted,” said Ortiz, who finished his first meet at Kentucky Downs with four wins. “I was a little afraid going into the first turn that she wanted to be on the lead. I didn’t really want to be on the lead. But I sat there, with Tyler (on Daring Duchess) on the lead, which was perfect. I just followed him the whole way, following, following. When we passed the five-eighths, I had a ton of horse. I just kind of waited, waited, working my way out a little bit. Past the three-eighths pole, I got clear, followed the Graham Motion horse (Queen Blossom). When we got to the quarter pole, I asked her, and she gave me a great run. Definitely much the best.”

The time for 1 5/16 miles over turf rated good after starting the day as yielding was 2:17.19. Kitten’s Roar paid $3.40 to win.

“I had a perfect trip, no problems,” said Chris DeCarlo, who rode Jon Marshall’s Tricky Escape for trainer Lynn Ashby. “I think she might have fared a little better if it was a little firmer. But she got over it well. I had no problem. I was clocking her; I just couldn’t get close to her.”

Kitten’s Roar now is undefeated at Kentucky Downs, having won a second-level allowance race last year.

“The drop in company really helped her,” Maker said. “She’s two for two here now. Looking for bigger and better things.”

That could be following the path of Ramsey and Maker’s 2016 winner Al’s Gal in the race, then called the Kentucky Downs Ladies Marathon. Al’s Gal went on to win Woodbine’s Grade 1 E.P. Taylor and run in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf.

Asked if he felt any extra pressure to win the Ramsey Farm, Maker said with a laugh, “That’s why Kitten’s Roar is here. Naw, this was the obvious spot for her.”

Kitten’s Roar overall is 6-6-2 in 17 starts, earning $635,058

A four-win day on Sept. 7 plus victory on Oscar Nominated in the Kentucky Turf Cup catapulted Julien Leparoux to his second Kentucky Downs title, his first coming in 2014. Leparoux finished with six wins, one more than 2015 and 2016 winner Florent Geroux. Jose Ortiz and Jose Lezcano finished with four wins apiece.

“It’s great,” Leparoux said, wearing a Kentucky Downs “I Love Big Purses” t-shirt. “The purses are huge, and we had a good meet. It was fun.”

Maker easily won the trainer’s title, his eight wins well ahead of the three apiece won by Tom Proctor, Ian Wilkes, Bill Mott and Joe Sharp, who won three races on closing day.

“Any title you can win means a lot, but especially here,” Maker said.

The Ramseys’ quartet of victories were two more than G. Watts Humphrey and GenStar Thoroughbreds.

Trainer Joe Sharp captured the first three races with Five Hearts ($13.40), She’s All Skeet ($41.40) and Aktabantay ($18).

“We were pretty excited about today, honestly,” Sharp said. “I was talking to Corey Johnsen, the owner of the track, (Wednesday) at the Keeneland sale and I’m like, ‘Please don’t cancel.’ We try to prepare for this meet and gear owners toward it, so it’s important to deliver.”