Al’s Gal was a reliable claimer until Ken and Sarah Ramsey and Mike Maker did what no one else had done. They put her in a stakes race.

The result was life changing for Al’s Gal, who never raced for a claiming price again. In her initial foray in the upper ranks, she was nosed out in the Mrs. Penny Stakes at Parx Racing late in the summer of 2015. By spring she added graded stakes placed and stakes winner to her growing resume. The 5-year-old mare enhanced her reputation when she became a Grade 1 winner by capturing the E. P. Taylor Stakes at Woodbine October 18.

Al’s Gal was popular during her early career and changed hands several times via the claim box. Her fortunes turned on February 26, 2015 at Gulfstream Park when Ramsey and Maker took her for $35,000.

“She wasn’t the most attractive thing when we got her,” Maker said when Al’s Gal won the Kentucky Downs Ladies Marathon Stakes at 1 5/16th miles on September 15. “She’s still not, but more (distance of) ground has really helped her.”

Ken Ramsey told Daily Racing Form that he claimed her based on her turf-oriented pedigree that would match well with his vast breeding operation anchored by his champion Kitten’s Joy, runner-up in the 2004 Breeders’ Cup Turf. Al’s Gal is by English Channel, who won the 2007 Turf as part of his own championship campaign.