Catnip

Catnip Made his career debut with a third-place finish in a 3-year-old maiden race at Fair Grounds going 1 1/16 miles on the turf on Feb. 19, 2022, and then resurfaced several months later to score the maiden win in his second lifetime start on Aug. 9, 2022 at Colonial Downs with a length victory at the distance of 1 1/8 miles on the turf. Catnip later raced two more times as a 3-year-old but failed to hit the board, including in a sixth-place finish in the Grade 3 New Kent County Virginia Derby.

Catnip returned for his 2023 season and made his 4-year-old debut in winning fashion in an allowance race at Keeneland on April 26, 2023. Catnip then was a winner again next time out when taking an allowance race at Monmouth Park on May 27 for a 2-for-2 start to his 4-year-old campaign.

Catnip scored his first career stakes victory in his next outing with a win in the Grade 3 $150,000 Monmouth Stakes back at Monmouth Park on June 17. Sent off as the 6-1 fifth choice in a field of six horses in the Monmouth Stakes, Catnip laid off the pace in a tightly packed field, then moved surged up to challenge the leaders in the stretch and prevailed by three-quarters of a length to win in a time of 1:47.40 for the 1 1/8 miles on firm turf.

Catnip is trained by Michael Stidham. He was bred in Kentucky by the sire Kitten's Joy out of the mare Masquerade by the Japanese mare Silent Name.