Sharp eager to start Kitten's Cat in Dania Beach

After a 2-year-old campaign that saw Kitten’s Cat become a stakes winner and a graded-placed performer, trainer Joe Sharp is understandably very eager to see what 2017 holds for Ken and Sarah Ramsey’s homebred.

Sharp won’t have to wait long as the colt’s 3-year-old campaign launches Saturday at Gulfstream Park in the $100,000 Dania Beach (G3), a 7 1/2-furlong turf race that drew eight runners.

"I’m bringing the family with the anticipation of getting a picture taken,” said Sharp, who also has horses this winter at the Fair Grounds, in addition to Gulfstream Park, where Kitten’s Cat is based.

Sharp was very disappointed that Kitten’s Cat, a son of the prolific sire Kitten’s Joy, didn’t receive the opportunity to run in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (G1). Ranked first on the also-eligibles, Kitten’s Cat failed to draw in and was rerouted to the Juvenile Turf Sprint, which was run a day later at Santa Anita.

Kitten’s Cat won the 6 1/2-furlong race on Santa Anita’s unique downhill turf course by 1 1/2 lengths under Luis Saez, who has the return call for the ninth running of the Dania Beach. 

When the starting gates opened in the Turf Sprint and his colt stumbled, Sharp thought all was lost.        

“One thing about Luis [Saez] is that he will ride a horse who hasn’t shown speed in his life and the horse somehow will show speed for him,” Sharp said. “I was really confident in Luis’ ability, but after the horse stumbled I thought it was over. But the horse is very athletic and gathered himself and got himself back in the race. He couldn’t have won it with any more ease than he did. I was pretty proud of him showing up on the big stage when we needed him to. 

“I was very, very upset not to draw into the Breeders’ Cup,” he continued. “We felt we were good enough to be right there. But having said that, we were glad to have had the opportunity to run in the sprint stake. I was concerned about the distance because I think he is a horse where further will be better for him, but good horses can win at any distance, within reason.”

Sharp is a former assistant to Mike Maker, who also trains for the Ramseys. The couple campaigned Kitten’s Joy and have bred a plethora of runners sired by the Eclipse Award champion. As a result, Sharp, who has been training on his own since 2014, has a deep familiarity with the sire’s progeny.        

“In general we’ve found that over the years that Kitten’s Joys seem to be better coming off the pace,” Sharp said. “Having said that, there is always the exception. I think Kitten’s Cat is definitely better with a target, but we will be versatile when he needs to be. The bottom line, he is one of the better Kitten’s Joys I’ve been around as a 2-year-old.”       

Kitten’s Cat drew the rail.

Trainer Todd Pletcher also has a close association with the sire line of his Dania Beach entrant, Made You Look, a son of More Than Ready. Pletcher trained More Than Ready, a multiple graded stakes winner, whose progeny have shown the same precocity as he did as a 2-year-old.

Let’s Go Stable and Three Chimneys Farm’s Made You Look, the winner of the With Anticipation Stakes (G2) at Saratoga in August, has not competed since finishing sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf.

“I was a little disappointed; the horse had trained really well leading up to it,” Pletcher remarked. “He just ran evenly. It wasn’t a horrible effort. He came out of it fine and we’ve been pointing to this.”    

Pletcher will also saddle Squadron in the Dania Beach. The undefeated gelded son of Midshipman has won a pair of races, one on dirt and one on turf.

“We ran him on the turf just because it was a Florida-bred opportunity and he handled it pretty well, so we’ll give it another try,” Pletcher said. 

Javier Castellano will handle the riding assignment aboard Made You Look, who has drawn post 7. Eddie Castro has the mount on Squadron who will exit from post 5.

Also entered is the Mark Casse-trained Minister’s Strike, who is undefeated in two starts, both run on the turf, and is making his stakes debut. Hey Mike, Leverkusen, Shiraz and Clyde’s Image complete the field. Field Trip was entered main-track only.

The $100,000 Ginger Brew, named for the Stronach Stables’ homebred who earned the 2008 Sovereign Award as champion 3-year-old filly, has come up as a tough and intriguing renewal.

The 7 1/2-furlong turf race drew 12 3-year-old fillies and one main-track only entrant. The field includes Wait a While Stakes winner Party Boat, a winner of her last three starts; Stronach Stables’ Conquest Vivi, a stakes winner from the Mark Casse barn who is undefeated in three starts; and Lady Alexandra, making her grass debut for last year’s top turf trainer in the country, Chad Brown.

One of the more seasoned runners in the field is the Todd Pletcher-trained Bahama Halo, who finished fifth as the favorite in the off-the-turf Wait a While Stakes at Gulfstream Park last month. Pletcher isn’t holding the loss against the More Then Ready filly who has won two of five starts on the turf.       

“We had never tried her on the dirt before because we felt she was better on the turf, but when the race came off we decided to give it a try and she ran like a horse who spun her wheels a little bit on the [sloppy] racetrack,” said Pletcher, who won the Ginger Brew last year with Lira. “We’re looking forward to getting her back on the grass.”