The Sadler’s Wells male line continues to dominate major features in Europe through the likes of Galileo and his legion of sons.
The likes of Teofilo and New Approach have been joined by bright hopes Frankel, Nathaniel and Intello), while Montjeu’s four time Gr 1 winning son Camelot has made a very bright start to his stud career.
Sadler’s Wells
In Australia, the late High Chaparral sons So You Think and Dundeel are both showing good promise at stud.
In North America, this potent male line is also a powerful force, thanks largely to El Prado (by Sadler’s Wells) sons Medaglia D’Oro and Kitten’s Joy.
While the former is famed for a string of high class dirt performers, the latter has thoroughly dominated turf racing in the USA, with Kitten’s Joy having been Leading Sire on Turf the past five years running and also topping the US General Sires List in 2013 – his sire El Prado having been Champion Sire in 2002.
Stakes
To date, Kitten’s Joy has sired 83 stakes winners – or 6% – from 1313 foals.
His AEI of 1.78 (Kitten’s Joy upgrades his mares with his CI being 1.58) places Kitten’s Joy above such high class North American stallions as Lemon Drop Kid, Tiznow, Malibu Moon and More Than Ready.
Kitten’s Joy
The multiple Gr1 winning Kitten’s Joy is once again heading the US Leading Turf Sires list in 2018, with Kitten’s Joy runners having already banked over $1.9 million on grass this year.
What has been remarkable about Kitten’s Joy’s success rate, is that he made his name through the help of some very ordinary mares. His five time Gr1 winning daughter Stephanie’s Kitten was produced by an unraced daughter of unheralded stallion Catienus, who was sold before her daughter began racing for just $7000.
His champion sire Big Blue Kitten is out of a mare, Spent Gold, who raced in claiming races and who was claimed for $50 000. A daughter of exiled stallion Unaccounted For, Spent Gold failed to win a race and Big Blue Kitten is her only stakes winner to date.
Kitten’s Joy’s graded winning son Dean’s Kitten was produced by a 3 time winning daughter of stud failure Ide, while short-lived Del Mar Derby winner Banned was the only graded winner produced by the 3 time winner Cardinalli.
Six of Kitten’s Joy’s G1 winners are inbred to Epsom Derby winner and outstanding sire Roberto.
Versatility
While he clearly does well with mares carrying Roberto in their pedigrees, Kitten’s Joy’s has been represented by graded winners out of mares by such varying sires as Wild Again, Honour And Glory, War Chant, Capote, Theatrical and Lemon Drop Kid.
He has done particularly well when mated to daughters of Grand Slam (Gone West), with this cross producing graded winners Admiral’s Kitten, Kitten’s Dumplings, Home Run Kitten, and Granny’s Kitten, while when mated to Storm Cat line mares, Kitten’s Joy has come up with the likes of Bobby’s Kitten (Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, sire), Hawkbill, millionaire Camelot Kitten and the above mentioned Stephanie’s Kitten.
Kitten’s Joy is now well established as a consistent sire of high class turf performers. Since 2012, Kitten’s Joy runners have won at least 20 stakes races a year –an astonishing achievement given the moderate mares he began his stud career with.
Kitten’s Joy has also made a splash outside of North America with relatively few runners. His handful of European runners include top class Hawkbill (winner of both the Gr1 Coral-Eclipse and Gr1 Dubai Sheema Classic), and fellow stakes winners Taareef and Liquid Amber, and Gr1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere second Cymric.
He could also feature strongly in the 2018 Investec Derby, with his son Roaring Lion, at the time of writing, among the leading contenders. Winner of the Gr2 Royal Lodge at two, Roaring Lion stamped his Epsom ticket with an emphatic four and a half length win in the recent Dante Stakes – traditionally a good pointer for English Derby success.
Should Roaring Lion, whose stakes placed dam is a daughter of Street Sense and top racemare and producer Cambiocorsa, win the Investec Derby on Saturday he will become the 11th Sadler’s Wells line descendant to land the English Derby this century.
The Admiral
South Africa has a single son of Kitten’s Joy at stud in the form of Admiral Kitten. The latter, like Kitten’s Joy himself, won the Gr1 Secretariat Stakes and established himself as one of the best turf males of his generation in North America with strong efforts in the Gr1 Hollywood Derby (2nd to Seek Again) and Gr1 Jamaica Handicap (2nd to Canadian Horse Of The Year Up With The Birds). He is one of 11 Gr1 winners representing Kitten’s Joy thus far.
Admiral Kitten
Bennie Van Der Merwe, who manages Admiral Kitten, says of the young sire, “He is a rather compact sprinter-type of a horse-which is somewhat surprising given that he won from nine to ten furlongs! Apart from that, he is a lovely horse, with a great temperament, who likes to get on with things.”
Admiral Kitten, who is from the same family as champion sires Cozzene (Caro) and Fort Wood (Sadler’s Wells), is out of the Grand Slam mare Reachinforthestars, a winner of two of her 11 outings. Admiral Kitten is the only stakes winner produced by his dam and is thus another considerable feather in the cap of his remarkable sire!
