Project Kitten a Roaring Success

With over $15 million in progeny earnings worldwide this year, Kitten's Joy is right up there in elite stallion company with the likes of Galileo (Ire), Tapit, Deep Impact (Jpn), et al; in fact, he currently sits behind only Dubawi (Ire) by worldwide progeny earnings in 2018.

What separates Ken and Sarah Ramsey's 'self-made' stallion from that trio, however, is that he stands for a fee of only $60,000. And, unlike the previously mentioned stallion royalty, his stock don't usually make the headlines in the sale ring. Rather, they reserve their newsworthiness for the racetrack.

Frustrated by this somewhat tepid demand from purchasers for the stallion's, stock Ken Ramsey accepted a proposal five years ago from outward-thinking sales consignor Ted Voute to handpick a selection of Ramsey's yearlings by Kitten's Joy and offer them at the major yearling sales in Europe. After all, this is a stallion who has proved himself the 'go to' turf stallion in America and whose progeny have earned a reputation for being tough, durable, easy to train, high-class racehorses.

“It was five years ago when we decided to try it,” explained Ted Voute. “At the time, the Ramseys had some horses in training in Italy and they were trying to raise the stallion's profile in Europe, so I wrote to them and suggested offering some of his stock at the yearling sales here. So each year I have traveled to America to the Ramseys' farm and we've gone through their entire crop and chosen what we think will work over here at Goffs, Tattersalls and Arqana. We aim to pick the well-conformed yearlings with clean X-rays and scopes and with a bit of pedigree that might suit over here.”

Voute continued, “I think it has been a successful venture so far with the average price of the yearlings we have sold being around £200,000, while all the time making Kitten's Joy more familiar and more accessible to European buyers.”

There is no fear that Kitten's Joy will not be in the forefront of the minds of serious yearling investors this time around given his son Roaring Lion is the top 10-furlong horse in Europe following a fantastic Group 1 hat trick this summer crowned by his win in the G1 QIPCO Irish Champion S. at Leopardstown.

Voute Sales offers two yearlings by Kitten's Joy at Goffs Orby this week, and this pair differ from previous yearlings by the sire offered by Voute for the Ramseys in that they were born and raised in England.

“When Bobby's Kitten was acquired by Lanwades Stud, the Ramseys retained a number of breeding rights to the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint winner and, rather than send over barren mares, they decided to send me 10 mares in foal to Kitten's Joy that would be foaled down and then be covered by Bobbby's Kitten,” Voute explained. So these two yearlings in Goffs are the first Kitten's Joy yearlings the Ramseys have bred in the UK.

The first offering at Goffs is lot 317, a bay filly out of Granny Franny (Grand Slam) who has already bred a Grade I winner in Kitten's Dumplings as well as two other stakes winners in Granny's Kitten and Granny Mc's Kitten, each, as their name implies, by Kitten's Joy. The other Voute/Ramsey offering is lot 400, a chestnut colt out of Megachurch (Pulpit). Her only progeny by the sire to run so far is Sister Kitten, a 2-year-old who made a very encouraging debut for Chad Brown and the Ramseys at Saratoga in August when runner up to 'TDN Rising Star' Newspaperofrecord (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) in a maiden.

“We've got a good bunch to go to war with this year and with Roaring Lion on the scene we are very hopeful,” Voute said. “We've also got the full-sister to Bobby's Kitten (lot 295) going to Book 1 at Tattersalls the following week and she is a really nice filly. We've got a colt out of Oak Trees Dancing (Forestry) (lot 18) as well who is probably one of the nicest Kitten's Joys I've seen.”

He continued, “We made a conscious decision this year to only offer the very top yearlings out of the batch of 10 that were foaled here. So we picked the top two colts and top two fillies and they are the ones we are offering. I think with Keeneland being so strong that will have lifted the market and between that and bringing some nice stock I think we are in good shape.”

With Roaring Lion copper-fastening his reputation this year followed by his departure to Tweenhills Stud either this year or next, it seems inevitable that the legacy of his sire will live on for generations. Over the coming years his prowess as a sire of sires will be put to the test, and it will be interesting to see how the market receives the first crop of one of his fastest sons later this year.

“When you consider the success of Roaring Lion and indeed of Hawkbill (Kitten's Joy), you'd have to think Kirsten Rausing has stolen a bit of a march by snapping up Bobby's Kitten. With his first foals selling this year, you couldn't ask for better timing,” Voute said.

Although Voute had the foresight to embrace Kitten's Joy when on the way up, he deflects much of the horse's success to a key member of Ramsey Farm. “I guess the unsung hero of the whole story is Mark Partridge, who is Ken and Sarah's farm manager and a lot of the credit for the success of Kitten's Joy must go to him,” Voute said. “He assembled all these fillies mostly from claiming races in America to go to Kitten's Joy in the first place and effectively made the stallion into one of the leading American sires on both turf and dirt.”

The responsibility for selecting and filling Kitten's Joy's book of mares now rests with John Sikura's Hill 'n' Dale Farm, and between this fresh impetus and a covering fee reduced to $60,000 from $100,000, the stallion is sure to be kept busy in the coming years.

“You must remember, Kitten's Joy started out covering very cheap mares but not long after, mostly through trial and error, Mark discovered that when crossed with Roberto or Northern Dancer-descended mares the results were phenomenal. Also, since starting the farm, Ken and Sarah have ensured the environment was in place to breed tough, sound horses. All the paddocks are serviced by natural spring water, the land is top-class and between Mark's hard work and breeding savvy and Ken and Sarah's passion for racing and breeding, they have developed a world-class stallion who doesn't seem to have gotten the recognition he deserves.”

That recognition appears to be catching on fast and results at Keeneland last month suggested buyers are looking on his progeny with a fresh set of eyes. Top prices of $725,000 and $650,000, while still a bit removed from some of his top-end stallion peers, suggest his yearling sales results this year will be more reflective of his progeny's success on the racetrack.

“The truth is, he doesn't particularly stamp his stock. They tend to come in all shapes and sizes, but my word are they tough,” Voute said. “If you look at Roaring Lion, he probably fooled them slightly in Gosden's over how much work he could take, as he got better and better the more he ran and worked. I think that's the common denominator with them; they are teak tough.”

With five years under his belt and the stallion's reputation at an all-time high, Voute said he is hoping to keep this particular project going for the foreseeable future. “We didn't set out with a 5-year-plan, it's just every year I ring the Ramseys in the spring and ask 'shall I come over?' And they always invite me with open arms,” he said. “Next year we will have a few yearlings by Bobby's Kitten to sell. We will offer one nice one in December as a foal, but the rest will be kept until next year. I hope I will still get the privilege of going over to Ramsey Farm and choosing a few Kitten's Joy yearlings to bring back. Ken and Sarah seem to like the involvement and it's been a great project that has probably evolved as we've gone along. It has also been financially rewarding for them, as although racing and breeding is a passion, for Ken it also has to make financial sense.”