Kappa Kappa may have been the second-longest shot on the board in the Lexus Raven Run Stakes (USA-G2) on Saturday at Keeneland, but she ran like a solid favorite. Never far away from the lead, she proved game and determined down the stretch in spite of brief difficulty in switching leads and gained the decision from Vodka with a Twist in the final strides. Ragtime, who was favored after coming in off a nice win in the Dogwood Stakes presented by Resolute Racing (USA-G3), encountered some early crowding but closed well to be third.
The Raven Run was the third win from four starts for the improving Kappa Kappa, who came in off an easy allowance win in Pennsylvania-bred company at Parx Racing and was making her first start away from Parx. She became the 15th stakes winner and fifth graded stakes winner of 2025 for Omaha Beach, who leads the American third-crop sire list and is 11th on the American general sire list. The son of War Front stood the 2025 Northern Hemisphere season at Spendthrift for US$35,000 but, not surprisingly, is getting a bump to US$75,000 for 2026.
On the distaff side of her pedigree, Kappa Kappa traces back to Itsabet, a foundation mare for Harry Z. Isaacs’ Brookfield Farm, via that matriarch’s most important daughter, Iaround (by Round Table). This branch of the family includes Juddmonte Farm’s great broodmare Hasili and is responsible for five champions: 1977 Irish champion 2-year-old filly Sookera, 2001 American champion turf female Banks Hill, 2005 American champion turf male Leroidesanimaux, 2005 American champion turf female Intercontinental, and 2009 Canadian Horse of the Year Champs Elysees. All of these horses trace back to Iaround through her daughter Irule (by Young Emperor).
Kappa Kappa’s branch of the family has not been quite so distinguished but has also done very well. Her fifth dam is Irule’s half sister I’m a Pleasure (by two-time American champion sire What a Pleasure), who produced 1984 Jerome Handicap (USA-G1) winner Is Your Pleasure (by Accipiter) and listed stakes-placed I’m Tickled Pink (by Sportin’ Life), dam of Brazilian listed stakes winner Mamangaba (by Dubai Dust). I’m a Pleasure is also the dam of I’ll Get There (by multiple Grade 1 winner Copelan), dam of 2000 Hollywood Starlet Stakes (USA-G1) winner I Believe in You (by Pleasant Tap) and restricted stakes winner Ready Cash (by Key to the Mint).
I’m a Pleasure’s first foal was In Jubilation, whose sire Isgala (by 1959 American champion sprinter Intentionally) was one of Isaacs’ homebred stallions and proved a useful stallion from limited opportunities. Defying the conventional wisdom that decrees that a mare will normally produce her best runner from her first five foals, In Jubilation waited until her seventh foal to come up with Little Baby Bear (by Broad Brush), a multiple Group 1 winner in Brazil. She then added two more stakes winners in 1997 Indiana Derby (USA-L) winner Dubai Dust (by Broad Brush) and 1999 Flamingo Stakes (USA-G3) winner First American (by Quiet American; a sire of some importance in Brazil) and finished her production record with Mulata Assanhada (by Royal Academy), dam of multiple Brazilian listed stakes winner Amado Mio.
I’m in Celebration (by Copelan), In Jubilation’s fourth foal, won three of her four starts and was second in the other but did not stay healthy long enough to try her mettle in stakes company. She produced the Grade 3-placed listed stakes winners Nice to Know (by Known Fact) and Cheers and Tears (by Bold Ruckus) as well as Sommerfest (by El Prado), dam of 2006 Turfway Breeders’ Cup Stakes (USA-G3) winner Beautiful Bets (by Alphabet Soup); Birthday Wire (by Birdonthewire), dam of listed stakes winner Wiredfortwotwenty (by Greatness); and Charming Amanda (by Charismatic), dam of Puerto Rican stakes winners Charming Tam (by Tamhid) and Copa de Oro (by Nite Light).
Accomplished, I’m in Celebration’s daughter by 1998 Breeders’ Cup Classic (USA-G1) winner Awesome Again, failed to win from three tries but produced 2019 Kelso Handicap (USA-G2) winner Pat on the Back (by Congrats) and New York restricted stakes winner Sarah Accomplished (by Performing Magic). To date, the only one of Accomplished’s daughters to produce a stakes winner is the winner Pharoah’s Princess (by multiple Grade 1 winner Pioneerof the Nile), who produced Kappa Kappa as her fourth foal and had no further produce until this spring, when she dropped a filly by Tiz the Law.
Given the timing and the necessity of a cross-country trip, it seems unlikely that Kappa Kappa’s connections will wheel her back in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (USA-G1) at Del Mar, but it can be hoped that the 2026 edition will be on her radar. If she remains in training and continues showing the gameness and speed she displayed in the Raven Run, it’s a good bet that there will be some future stakes races with her name on the trophy.
The Raven Run was the third win from four starts for the improving Kappa Kappa, who came in off an easy allowance win in Pennsylvania-bred company at Parx Racing and was making her first start away from Parx. She became the 15th stakes winner and fifth graded stakes winner of 2025 for Omaha Beach, who leads the American third-crop sire list and is 11th on the American general sire list. The son of War Front stood the 2025 Northern Hemisphere season at Spendthrift for US$35,000 but, not surprisingly, is getting a bump to US$75,000 for 2026.
On the distaff side of her pedigree, Kappa Kappa traces back to Itsabet, a foundation mare for Harry Z. Isaacs’ Brookfield Farm, via that matriarch’s most important daughter, Iaround (by Round Table). This branch of the family includes Juddmonte Farm’s great broodmare Hasili and is responsible for five champions: 1977 Irish champion 2-year-old filly Sookera, 2001 American champion turf female Banks Hill, 2005 American champion turf male Leroidesanimaux, 2005 American champion turf female Intercontinental, and 2009 Canadian Horse of the Year Champs Elysees. All of these horses trace back to Iaround through her daughter Irule (by Young Emperor).
Kappa Kappa’s branch of the family has not been quite so distinguished but has also done very well. Her fifth dam is Irule’s half sister I’m a Pleasure (by two-time American champion sire What a Pleasure), who produced 1984 Jerome Handicap (USA-G1) winner Is Your Pleasure (by Accipiter) and listed stakes-placed I’m Tickled Pink (by Sportin’ Life), dam of Brazilian listed stakes winner Mamangaba (by Dubai Dust). I’m a Pleasure is also the dam of I’ll Get There (by multiple Grade 1 winner Copelan), dam of 2000 Hollywood Starlet Stakes (USA-G1) winner I Believe in You (by Pleasant Tap) and restricted stakes winner Ready Cash (by Key to the Mint).
I’m a Pleasure’s first foal was In Jubilation, whose sire Isgala (by 1959 American champion sprinter Intentionally) was one of Isaacs’ homebred stallions and proved a useful stallion from limited opportunities. Defying the conventional wisdom that decrees that a mare will normally produce her best runner from her first five foals, In Jubilation waited until her seventh foal to come up with Little Baby Bear (by Broad Brush), a multiple Group 1 winner in Brazil. She then added two more stakes winners in 1997 Indiana Derby (USA-L) winner Dubai Dust (by Broad Brush) and 1999 Flamingo Stakes (USA-G3) winner First American (by Quiet American; a sire of some importance in Brazil) and finished her production record with Mulata Assanhada (by Royal Academy), dam of multiple Brazilian listed stakes winner Amado Mio.
I’m in Celebration (by Copelan), In Jubilation’s fourth foal, won three of her four starts and was second in the other but did not stay healthy long enough to try her mettle in stakes company. She produced the Grade 3-placed listed stakes winners Nice to Know (by Known Fact) and Cheers and Tears (by Bold Ruckus) as well as Sommerfest (by El Prado), dam of 2006 Turfway Breeders’ Cup Stakes (USA-G3) winner Beautiful Bets (by Alphabet Soup); Birthday Wire (by Birdonthewire), dam of listed stakes winner Wiredfortwotwenty (by Greatness); and Charming Amanda (by Charismatic), dam of Puerto Rican stakes winners Charming Tam (by Tamhid) and Copa de Oro (by Nite Light).
Accomplished, I’m in Celebration’s daughter by 1998 Breeders’ Cup Classic (USA-G1) winner Awesome Again, failed to win from three tries but produced 2019 Kelso Handicap (USA-G2) winner Pat on the Back (by Congrats) and New York restricted stakes winner Sarah Accomplished (by Performing Magic). To date, the only one of Accomplished’s daughters to produce a stakes winner is the winner Pharoah’s Princess (by multiple Grade 1 winner Pioneerof the Nile), who produced Kappa Kappa as her fourth foal and had no further produce until this spring, when she dropped a filly by Tiz the Law.
Given the timing and the necessity of a cross-country trip, it seems unlikely that Kappa Kappa’s connections will wheel her back in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (USA-G1) at Del Mar, but it can be hoped that the 2026 edition will be on her radar. If she remains in training and continues showing the gameness and speed she displayed in the Raven Run, it’s a good bet that there will be some future stakes races with her name on the trophy.
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