Dramatic Double For Kitten’s Joy Filly

[Wandering Eyes]

Dramatic Queen (Kitten’s Joy) may have been out for a 2 3/4-length handicap stroll going 2400 metres at Kempton just the evening before, but that proved no hindrance for the 3-year-old filly in Thursday’s 2600 metre Listed River Eden Fillies’ S. at Lingfield, and she recorded a remarkable double when coming in an easy one-length winner as the 11/4 favourite (video).

Dramatic Queen is trained by William Haggas for Sheikh Juma Dalmook Al Maktoum. After winning on her second of two starts last year at two, she had shown decent form earlier this year with her high-class stablemate Sea Of Class (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), finishing fourth, 5 1/4 lengths off that dual Oaks winner and Arc runner-up in listed company at Newbury in June. Three-quarters of a length ahead of her that day was the third-placed Princess Yaiza (Ire) (Casamento {Ire}), who takes on this weekend’s GI Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf.

Dramatic Queen had run just twice more in the interim, and Haggas said the highly unusual decision to run twice in 24 hours was prompted by the likelihood that she will now be put away for the year.

“She was always going to the stakes race today, and she had an entry in yesterday’s race,” Haggas explained. “I hadn’t planned to run her in yesterday’s race but the race was re-opened as they were looking for more runners, so we put her in and she won that easily [Wednesday] night so we decided to back her up today.”

“She’s had a very light campaign, with just three runs until Wednesday so we thought, as she’s a big strong filly by Kitten’s Joy, she could take two races provided the first one went right, which it did.”

Asked if he has ever attempted such a feat before, Haggas said, “Not with an animal of her quality. It’s not something we normally do, but I think on this occasion the owner and I discussed it at length and we felt that she’s going to stay in training next year, she probably won’t run again for five months, so we thought, clearly it’s a risk, but all the markers were correct with her. She looked well, seemed well and had eaten all her food. Everything as far as we were concerned was good. She stayed the night [Wednesday] night in Kempton and then we brought her over [Thursday] morning to Lingfield; it’s only a short way away.”

“She’s a big, strong girl and she’s tough. We’ll check her over tomorrow morning but I’ll be surprised if she hasn’t eaten; she’s tough.”

Bred by Gary Chervenell, Dramatic Queen is the second foal out of the stakes-placed Midnight Music (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}). She was born and raised at Brookdale Farm and bought by Blandford Bloodstock for $150,000 at Keeneland September in 2016. In another amazing twist to an already scarcely believable story, the mare’s 2-year-old, Music Major (Street Sense), retained by Chervenell and trained by Roger Attfield, also won on debut at Woodbine on Wednesday night.

“In the space of 18 hours, the mare had three winners from two runners,” said Brookdale’s Joe Seitz. Of Dramatic Queen, he said, “It’s surreal, I can’t get my mind around it. I don’t know how a horse can have that kind of resilience.”

“She was really nice,” Seitz recalled of Dramatic Queen. “She was pretty substantial-the mare is not really big, so the filly was bigger than what we expected from the mare, and she was very athletic. So it’s not surprising that she runs well because she was quite an athlete. But who would know she’d go on and do something like this?”

Midnight Music is still at Brookdale. She has a yearling filly by Animal Kingdom that sold for $35,000 at Keeneland September this year, and unfortunately after producing a dead foal by Palace Malice last year she did not get in foal this year when returned to Kitten’s Joy.

Chervenell is a small breeder with three mares at Brookdale and a small handful of mares and racehorses in Europe, Seitz said.

Three wins within 24 hours sure isn’t bad, then.

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