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BREEDERS' CUP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPSOctober 31, 2015Chad BrownKenneth RamseyLexington, Kentucky THE MODERATOR: All right. Ladies and gentlemen, the winner of the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf is Stephanie's Kitten, who is now a two‑time Breeders' Cup winner, having also won the 2011 Juvenile Filly's Turf and we're joined now by trainer Chad Brown, owners Ken and Sarah Ramsey, hopefully, will be joining us in a few minutes. Chad, congratulations to you. CHAD BROWN: Thank you. THE MODERATOR: Seems like Mr.Ramsey is making his way in. We're joined by Ken Ramsey, who owns Stephanie's Kitten, and his wife Sarah. Jeff maybe is on his way to the champagne toast. Congratulations to you both. Thanks for joining us here. Ken, maybe we'll start with you and tell us what's going through your mind. KENNETH RAMSEY: Start with Chad while I catch my breath. THE MODERATOR: You catch your breath. We'll turn you loose in a minute. Chad, just an incredible run. Take us through the race to start. CHAD BROWN: I was quite concerned early that she fell pretty far back and I wasn't sure how quick the pace would be. And she was wide in that first turn and far behind, two things you don't want in a turf race, two turns. But Irad made a bold decision down the back side to make up for lost position early and creep up the inside, which I felt was very risky at the time. He could fall behind a wall of horses, turning for home. Luckily, the seas parted and he had a ton of horse under him. Just so proud of her, the way she kicked home. THE MODERATOR: Even with all the major wins she's had, were you a little taken aback by the turn of foot she had there and the way that she closed. CHAD BROWN: The way she's been training, no. She just overcomes so much, this filly. From the difficult draw today, falling way out of position early, and two things that we sort of learned about her through time was she didn't care for Keeneland's turf course and she doesn't run inside of horses. And she did it all today. Right, Ken? And she did it all. Those were the things that we've learned about her. And she did everything opposite today and still showed the heart of a true champion to overcome all that and win. Really proud of her. THE MODERATOR: Can you tell us what she's meant to your barn? CHAD BROWN: She's meant a lot. Just the confidence that Mr.and Mrs.Ramsey have in me in my staff to move barns and move her over to us. Initially, her first couple of starts weren't very good. I can tell you being a public trainer that nine times out of ten that horse is going to move again. When a decision is made, it doesn't work out. Ken had a talk with me, he says, Listen, you're going to train her until she's retired, period. You're going to get her going good again. I have confidence in you. We're going to do it. It's pretty humbling, someone shows you that kind of confidence when you're down and you can't figure a horse out that's a previous Breeders' Cup winner. All that patience and confidence paid off, and we got it right. THE MODERATOR: Ken, I'd like to turn to you. With a what a climax to this incredible mare's career. KENNETH RAMSEY: I'd like to say well spoken by a future Hall of Famer. Well spoken. Echo all that. These Kitten's Joys come from last to first. We did it last year with Bobby's Kitten. When he crossed the dirt track in the six and a half furlong out at Santa Anita Sprint, he was dead last. One of the closing bursts, got the money. Basically, she did the same thing today. I kind of echo what Chad had to said today. I was a little bit concerned when I saw her back that far. But last to first. Great ride by the jockey, used his smarts. He's going to be in the Hall of Fame himself. This Irad Ortiz is really a good jockey. He's right up there with John Velasquez, Javier Castellano and all the good ones that are running up there in New York now. What can I say about the mare that hasn't already been said? She's had a tough luck career. There's lot of seconds on there that could have been won. Just a head bob or two or a little more pace in the race. Today, she went out in a blaze of glory. We're very proud of her. THE MODERATOR: One of those seconds was last year. Is it safe to say you started pointing to this race essentially at the end of last year's Filly & Mare Turf. KENNETH RAMSEY: That's exactly right. I saw Chad after the race and said next time, we might need to have a rabbit in there with her, make sure the honest pace up front. But today, everything broke perfectly, and Chad‑‑ we tried a rabbit the first couple times. It didn't really work out. It's not that we wouldn't try one. But he said I don't think we need one with her. I trust Chad's judgment. He's come a long way since he used to be an apprentice with Bobby Frankel. THE MODERATOR: Ken, you're synonymous at this point with Kentucky racing, especially Keeneland. What does it feel like to win the race here at the Breeders' Cup at Keeneland? KENNETH RAMSEY: This puts it right up there with the Dubai World Cup and the Whitney Stakes where we won with Roses in May. Tom Durkin gave one of the greatest calls I ever heard in that particular race. That was a real thrill. We didn't know if he got there or didn't get there. Just barely made it. I remember Mrs.Whitney being in the Winner's Circle in the champagne room. That was kindly prophetic, the way it turned out. We got to meet the Whitneys. I didn't want to be disrespectful. We call her Mary Lou. She helped my wife out when she had the stroke, flew a doctor in and all that down to Miami to help her out. We named a filly, Thank You Mary Lou, who never ran in anything except a stake race except her last race. So she's retired now. Two good broodmares coming up here. Stephanie's Kitten, who is probably going to find a new home; and Thank You Mary Lou. THE MODERATOR: I'd like both of you to talk about the quality of the field and so many great European fillies and mares in this field. Talk about what it feels like to triumph over such a great international field that we saw here today. Chad, starting with you. CHAD BROWN: A really strong field. Legatissimo, particularly, we have a lot of respect for and some other ones that were in there just had fantastic form from Europe. It's a real spirit of the Breeders' Cup, international competition at its finest. On this day, it was a Kentucky bred horse, just miles from where she was born, that came out victorious. And I just think it's a great story. She beat everyone‑‑ she beat all the best today. THE MODERATOR: Ken? KENNETH RAMSEY: Well, the Europeans, it sort of favors them when they got a little cut in the track, which you well know, a few showers here recently. But I'm still emotional about the fact that we've named it after Stephanie's Kitten. I'll tell a little story about we got another filly called Ava's Kitten. If she wins this thing next year on the race, Chad will kind of know how I'm feeling with my granddaughter Stephanie. But it's been family pet all the way through, a lot of agonizing over what to do with it, not to do with it. The first one I had was Bail Out Becky. We named it after my granddaughter Becky. We still have her. I wanted to sell her. I was offered a million dollars for her a couple times. My wife said no, no, no, we're going to keep Bail Out Becky. Fortunately, we kept her and one of her daughters produced Stephanie's Kitten. If we'd have unloaded her for a million dollars at the time we could have, I wouldn't be sitting up here today. Thank you, Sarah Kathryn. I appreciate it. I don't call her Sarah Kathryn. I call her Kitten. THE MODERATOR: Of course. Do we have questions? Q. After Wavell Avenue won, Mr.Michael Dubbs said anything is possible with Chad Brown. You won two Breeders' Cup races in a row. Making a comment on Stephanie's Kitten, you said she did things today she normally does not like to do. CHAD BROWN: Yeah. Q. What do you attribute it to? Her spirit, her strength or your training skill? CHAD BROWN: I'd say just her overall quality and class. When you're lucky enough to train horses at this level, you really get to the cream of the crop, the true champion horses. And those horses can overcome a lot of things. We saw that today with this filly. Her record was poor on Keeneland's turf course in the past. And she had shown a tendency to lug in when she's on the inside of horses. Several top jockeys told me, who have ridden here, you don't want to go inside with her when the running starts. To overcome those two things and just really, she couldn't have worse position in the first turn coming out of there. I'm so proud of her. I'll add to what Michael Dubb said. I'll add to that that nothing's possible without Chad Brown's staff on top of that. It's great to get all the accolades and all, but I have 110 employees right now that work for me, and all of them do it primarily because they love working with horses first. Hopefully, they love working for me. It's a team effort, and everyone has their duties and we split them up. My duties are just a fraction, a very small fraction of it. If everyone on that team didn't execute their specific job, this horse wouldn't be here today in the Winner's Circle and none of these wins that you see our barn have wouldn't be there. I mean this. KENNETH RAMSEY: His groom on Stephanie's Kitten today won the Best Turned Out Award, which is a prize of $500. I think maybe I'll tip him $100 myself. She looked that good. CHAD BROWN: It goes to show you the care they take on that note, the Best Turnout Award, things like that. How much care they take of these animals to make them the healthiest they can be, look the best they can, and it's those little attentions to detail, I believe, is the difference on big days. THE MODERATOR: We have a question from the press box. Q. Chad, you won three Breeders' Cup races last year and two this year. What does that success mean to you as a trainer, a horseman? CHAD BROWN: Thank you. It means so much because of all the hard work we put in, you know. Seven days a week. A lot of people traveling around, away from their family, me included. You do it all to get to these big days, these Breeders' Cup races, Triple Crown races, anything that's at the very pinnacle of the game. When you're able to have success with everybody here and everyone lining up their best horses against you, it just means so much. It's an incredible feeling. KENNETH RAMSEY: A lot to the owners too, because I like to put myself in good company. If I've got the best riders riding for me, best trainers training for me, makes me look good. Very good [Laughter]. Q. Chad, we talked the other day, and you said that autumn is the time when this mare likes to come around. How much of her success today was the ground and how much of it is the autumn? And can you explain why that is with some of these fillies and mares, I take it, in particular? CHAD BROWN: That's a great question. I think the ground really helped her, the moisture in the ground really helped her today. In addition to that, in the second half of her career, when we've had her in our care, she has come along in the fall, as the season's gone on. Sometimes there's questions you don't get answered training horses. If it's working out, you just go with it. I don't know if it's the cooler weather, if there's something with the length of the days or, you know, it's just in her personality. I'm not really sure, but it's become a pattern now, and I won't be able to test it next year, because she's done. Q. Talk about her personality, what kind of filly is she? CHAD BROWN: She's a really‑‑ she loves to train, this filly, and she's a real consistent horse training in the morning. She can be a little grumpy at times. She'll try to cow kick you if you get in her space. As we've gotten to know her and she's gotten to know us, we respect her space and we've learned how to work around her. Not a mean bone in her body. Just she's a dominant horse, and whenever she's in the presence of any of our employees or other horses in the walking ring, she's clearly the boss all the time. She deserves to be. Q. Continuing with the philosophy of shipping them only a few days before the big race, not getting here too early? CHAD BROWN: It's something my mentor taught me, Bobby. He, over and over again, I saw him execute that plan, and more often than not, they ran really well on the big days doing that. I guess there's some special circumstance where we would go over early to train over a specific surface, maybe in a dirt race. There are certain tracks around the country, he would share with me that would be the only time he would do it. He was always a believer in if you're comfortable in your home base and the horses are comfortable in that environment, the training is so important leading up to those races. You want to get the most you can out of that training, out of those exercises. And it's best done in an environment everyone is comfortable with, both the staff and the horses. We've always shipped in as close to the race as we can. THE MODERATOR: Chad Brown, Ken and Sarah Ramsey, congratulations to you. What a way to go out. Stephanie's Kitten, winner he of the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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