Kitten's Joy To Relocate to Hill 'n' Dale

Kitten's Joy (El Prado {Ire}–Kitten's First, by Lear Fan), the perennial leading sire of turf runners in North America and second only to Galileo (Ire) on the TDN list of leading turf sires worldwide, will relocate to John Sikura's Hill 'n' Dale Farm for the 2018 breeding season. Sikura told the TDN Thursday afternoon that he had acquired a 50% stake in the stallion with Ken and Sarah Ramsey retaining the other half-interest.

“He's the premier turf sire in North America and we believe he has the potential to be a leading international sire,” Sikura said, adding that Hill 'n' Dale's interest is to be syndicated amongst a group of international breeders. “He's a horse without boundaries. His progeny are winning group races all over the world and with the inclusion of international breeders plus leading North American breeders and with the reemerging influence of turf racing here in America, I think it provides a great opportunity. He's a leading sire even though he has fewer opportunities than dirt sires. To be perennially a leading sire puts him into an elite category.”

Kitten's Joy comes to Hill 'n' Dale as the sire of 11 top-level winners at home and abroad. His Grade I/Group 1 winners this season include Secretariat S. hero Oscar Performance, Sword Dancer Invitational victor Sadler's Joy and Woodford Reserve Turf Classic winner Divisidero. Roaring Lion and Taareef have flown the flag for the sire in Europe with pattern successes over the last two weeks, while recent GI Northern Dancer Turf S. runner-up Hawkbill won the 2016 G1 Coral-Eclipse S. for Godolphin. Overall, Kitten's Joy is the sire of 81 black-type winners, 37 of which have come at the graded/group level.

At Hill 'n' Dale, Sikura also stands one of this country's best sires of dirt runners in the form of Curlin, and believes the addition of Kitten's Joy gives Hill 'n' Dale a serious one-two punch.

“In my opinion, Curlin has the ability to sire a Classic horse and now with the leading turf sire it broadens our spectrum and makes us more relevant to a broader base of breeders,” Sikura said. “[Kitten's Joy] is a horse I've long admired and now to have the opportunity to stand the horse and manage his career and have a significant vested interest and do our part to achieve further recognition is outstanding. We hope to elevate his profile to where it deservedly needs to be which is a world-class horse.”

The announcement comes two weeks after Ken Ramsey exclusively told TDN's Bill Finley that he was disappointed with the performance of Kitten's Joy yearlings at the Keeneland September sale and, at the time, was “90% certain” that he would be able to work out a deal to stand the stallion in Europe. He backed off those plans this past Tuesday, explaining to Finley that pressure from his family had led to those plans being scrapped and that he was in negotiations to stand Kitten's Joy in Kentucky.

“The road to success is always under construction,” Ramsey said. “In this case there were some detours. In the end, I feel like we made the right decision for all concerned. We were offered more money by at least one other farm. But the horse came first and everyone in the Ramsey family agreed that Hill 'n' Dale was the best fit for him. We took a vote–myself, my wife, my four children and my two grandchildren and Hill n Dale was a a unanimous winner.”

Ramsey added, “This will change the perception of the horse. He will have a different control group of mares. We had been breeding him to same claimers of our own or horses with lesser pedigrees. We did so because of different physical factors, nicking patterns, etc., but mainly because we were looking to make it into the winner's circle and not to create a horse to put in the sales ring. We've had a lot of success with him and I think what we did worked.”

Ramsey said that Hill 'n' Dale will install an underwater treadmill similar to one in use at Ramsey Farm and that the farm had agreed to use Kitten's Joy's regular chiropractor and will employ the sire's groom, should he wish to make the transition.

Sikura plans on supporting the stallion in a few different ways.

“We will target not only members of our own broodmare band, but also at the upcoming auctions with mares with think will suit him physically and from a nicking point of view and from an aptitude point of view to try to ensure success,” he said. “The horse already gets Grade I winners, so we're going to do all that we can to complement a horse of that stature with the equal component of important mares. I believe he's the kind of horse that can sire and Arc winner, a Breeders' Cup winner, Japan Cup–all the elite races. There is no ceiling on what his progeny can achieve. We are excited about the opportunity to breed to him and try to breed that world-class horse.”

—Additional reporting by Bill Finley