Dean's Kitten won the $500,000 Lane's End Grade 2 stakes at Turfway Park on March 27, 2010. Dean's Kitten is by Kitten's Joy out of Summer Theatre by Ide. The $291,000 winning purse moves the son of Kitten's Joy into the top 10 among 3-year-olds in graded stakes earnings, which are used to determine the 20 qualifiers for the Kentucky Derby. The dam of Dean's Kitten, Summer Theatre, is owned by Dave Lovlie's Winsome Acres of Sylvan Lake, Alberta. Read the Blood-Horse article.
Distorted Dave to Seek Derby Spot
by Blood-Horse Staff
Date Posted: 3/26/2010 8:49:09 PM
Last Updated: 3/27/2010 11:05:47 AM
Distorted Dave’s triumph in a $48,400 allowance race at Santa Anita March 26 (VIDEO) has trainer John Sadler thinking of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) with the Distorted Humor colt.
“We’re going to try to backdoor our way into the Derby by running in the Coolmore at Keeneland,” Sadler said afterward in reference to the $300,000 Coolmore Lexington Stakes (gr. II) April 17.
Nominated to the Triple Crown races, Distorted Dave, at 4-1, gave evidence of his budding potential by overhauling the two favorites, Indian Firewater and Big Man Has a Sign, in mid-stretch and drawing off to win the 1 1/16-mile race by 4 1/4 lengths in 1:43.16. He was ridden by Joel Rosario. It was the second victory in four starts for Distorted Dave, who had chased Indian Firewater in his two previous outings.
“He improved a lot in his last race,” Sadler said. “He finished real strong. We felt he was coming into his own going into this race.”
Owned by Highfield Stock Farm and Stephen E. Johnson, Distorted Dave earned $28,800 in his recent effort to bring his total income to $59,040. He will need to add to his graded earnings in the April 17 event at Lexington to be considered for the Kentucky Derby. (Posted March 29, 2010)
When Krista MacPherson, a DeWinton area horse trainer and breeder, purchased a "ten or twelve year" old mare and a chestnut filly out of the recent SPCA seizure auction at High River, she thought she would possibly breed the mare and train and sell her offspring as sport horses and train the chestnut filly as a riding horse. Identification was an issue with these horses but the older mare had a tattoo and had obviously raced at some point in ther life. Krista asked the CTHS for some help figuring out the identity of the mare based on what she could read on the somewhat worn off tattoo. Imagine the surprise when the tattoo was read more clearly in the light and the letter she thought was a 'B' or a 'D' turned out to be an 'R' and the sequence matched to the tattoo of a race horse many long time Alberta fans will remember well - Lady Alta. Instead of the 10 or 12 year old mare, Krista thought she had bought, she turned out to be 22 years old but what a horse to have ended up with.
Lady Alta won a number of awards and earnings of over $360,000 in her years racing on Alberta tracks back in the early nineties. This 1988 mare by Ky Alta out of Nauti Li'l Miss was a favorite of her trainer Floyd Arthur and put in six years racing before being retired as a broodmare in 1996 as an eight year old. Her life took an unfortunate turn for the worse when she was sold out of the 2006 CTHS Fall Mixed Sale and ended up at the SPCA sale earlier this year but things are looking up again for Lady Alta now and one of Alberta's favorite race mares will enjoy a final well deserved home.
Krista MacPherson is at Hillside Farms in DeWinton, Alberta and her website is www.pintowarmblood.com. Krista said that anyone who wants to contact her about Lady Alta is more than welcome to do so or pop by her farm to have a look. (Updated March 2, 2010)
