by Mike Curry

After finishing on the board five times in graded stakes races, Kiss the Kid held off Wheels Up At Noon for a breakthrough win in the $150,000 Cliff Hanger Stakes (G3) on Friday night at the Meadowlands.

The five-year-old Lemon Drop Kid horse, a $270,000 purchase by trainer Amy Tarrant’s Hardacre Farm at the 2004 Keeneland September yearling sale, stalked the pace from third and outfinished Wheels Up At Noon by a neck to prevail in the Cliff Hanger. Kiss the Kid completed 1 1/16 miles on turf rated as good in 1:43.60 under jockey Rajiv Maragh.

“We are just so thrilled,” owner-trainer Amy Tarrant said.  “I’ve had this horse since he was a baby, and my whole team and I have worked so hard for this moment.

“This is our first graded stakes win ever. I’ve only been in the business about six years now and this is truly the highlight.”

Kiss the Kid finished third this year in the Donn Handicap (G1), Gulfstream Park Handicap (G2), and Philip H. Iselin Stakes (G3). He won the 2007 Cozzene Stakes and finished second last year in the Oceanport Stakes (G3) and third in the W. L. McKnight Handicap (G2).

Kiss the Kid entered the Cliff Hanger off a ninth-place finish in the $500,000 Monmouth Stakes, won by dual classic winner Big Brown on September 13.

Kiss the Kid was positioned in third in ideal stalking position as Baron Von Tap set an uncontested pace through a half-mile in :48.02 and six furlongs in 1:13.18. Kiss the Kid, sent off at 6.10-to-1 odds, seized command in the stretch and dug in to fend off Wheels Up At Noon and fast-closing third-place finisher Nergal (Fr).

Kiss the Kid improved to six wins in 24 career starts and boosted his earnings to $474,767. Bred in Kentucky by Jayeff B Stables, Kiss the Kid is a full brother to stakes winner Lemon Kiss. He is out of the winning Danzig mare Black Tie Kiss, a half sister to 1991 Horse of the Year Black Tie Affair (Ire).

For an Equibase chart, click here.

Mike Curry is a Thoroughbred Times TODAY editor