Love spurs Captive Kitten to victory

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This article was published 16/06/2023 (1195 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

How good does it feel to win something when you’re not supposed to?

Owner-trainer Victoria Morse knows.

The 57-year-old former groom for some of the best trainers on the grounds won Tuesday’s second race at Assiniboia Downs with longshot Captive Kitten, who wasn’t even supposed to live after an accident last year, let alone win a race.

The eight-year-old chestnut gelding lost an argument with a fence at full speed last September and went flying side-first into a ditch. Covered in gravel-filled puncture wounds, he began the long road to recovery at Morse’s Harstone Stables in St. Andrews and amazingly made it back to the racetrack this spring.

“The whole thing was just to get him back to health,” said Morse. “He was still in recovery mode when we put him back into training in February. We got rid of most of the scar tissue.”

Sent off at 8-1 in the six-horse field, Captive Kitten took advantage of the calamity that always seems to happen in a horse race. Favourite Lucky Luke didn’t live up to his name, breaking slowly and advancing to form one of three different duels in the race that Captive Kitten had the pleasure of stalking under leading rider Antonio Whitehall, and when it came time for the “Kitten” to pounce, it was over quickly. He opened up into the stretch and there was no way he was giving up the lead. He paid $18.60 to win.

Any question of whether Morse thought she could actually win the race, before it happened, were quickly answered in the emotional scene outside the winner’s circle when her daughter Beth Penton picked up the horse. It was definitely an “Oh my God! We won!” moment for Morse and her team, which included her retired husband, exercise rider Douglas Badaloo, and Taegen Lippoway, who helps Morse on the farm.

“The reason we were so excited when he won is because he should have died,” said Morse. “I mean, the whole thing was to just get him back. To get him to run. Now it’s, I don’t know, it just…”

The popular ASD Twitterverse community also took note with one Tweeter writing, “Anthony Whitehall can do no wrong.” And they were right. Whitehall is in the best form of his career right now and Captive Kitten received a perfect ride from the two-time riding champion.

Whitehall now has 18 victories, 10 more than Prayven Badrie (eight), and 11 more than 2021-2022 champ Jorge Carreno, who is tied for third in the standings with Damario Bynoe and Ronald Ali. Badrie won five races on the week, including three for four-time leading trainer Jerry Gourneau, who is now tied for second in the standings with six-time leading trainer Tom Gardipy, Jr. Lise Pruitt and Wendy Anderson top the trainer standings with seven wins a piece, and Anderson was the first to congratulate Morse on her win.

“I love the racing community,” said Morse, who has been around horses all her life. “I love the camraderie. I beat Wendy Anderson’s horse, and she came up to me in the kitchen to congratulate me. You know, it’s like Gary Danelson said in his tribute at the awards banquet. You can beat somebody, but they’re going to be in your barn having a beer with you after the races.”

Morse credited Danelson and Gardipy for offering advice that helped her get Captive Kitten back into the winner’s circle. “They’ve got a hundred years of experience between them,” said Morse, who also mentioned jockey agent Shane Ball.

“I have to give credit where credit is due,” said Morse. “Shane Ball said something to me last year, that every trainer should be sitting on the front of their horse’s stall trying to figure out how they can make their horse run better. I took that to heart and spent a lot of time thinking about how I could make this horse better.”

Combining the advice of the pros with all the love you can imagine is what got Captive Kitten home on Tuesday night. Not only does Morse spend time with her horse, but he also gets preventative medicine in the form of cold-water hosing, leg soakers, an electronic blanket and massage. He’s also had treatments from an osteopath and a chiropractor.

It’s amazing how much work goes into a single horse at the racetrack, especially when it’s the only horse in your barn. Captive Kitten is not only physically fit and healthy, he’s also mentally charged up, not only from his care, but from his win. You could see it in his playful personality Thursday morning in the barn.

“He’s tolerated all my mistakes with good humour,” said Morse. “If love makes a horse run, this horse will run for a long time. He’s earned the right to have nothing but the best of care for the rest of his life.”