Kip Deville

The highest earning Oklahoma-bred of all time, Kip Deville started his career at Remington Park with little fanfare. Trained originally by Mike Neatherlin, Kip Deville was owned in partnership by Dee Neatherlin and Roy Cobb. He won at first asking on November 14, 2005, drawing away to win by 3-1/2 lengths with Justin Shepherd up. The 2-year-old would race again here on the season’s final night in 2005, finishing fifth in the Centennial Stakes for 2-year-olds on the turf.

Kip Deville would glide along in relative obscurity for his next five races, winning his first stakes event in the $40,000 Texas Heritage at Sam Houston Race Park in March 2006. His days of flying under the national radar came to an end when he scorched the sod in winning the Grand Prairie Turf Challenge at Lone Star Park the next month, dominating by four lengths over a soft course. Offers began to ring in for Kip Deville and he was eventually purchased by the powerful IEAH Racing Stable for an amount well into the six-figure range.

Kip Deville’s first start after his purchase was a second-place finish in the $1 million Colonial Park Turf Cup. He led by an astounding 15 lengths with a quarter-mile remaining before tiring to finish 3-1/4 lengths behind as the runner-up. Despite the loss, Kip Deville gave a glimpse of his speed and class while managing to stay strong in a long turf event.

Kip Deville picked up his first graded stakes win in the Grade 3, $100,000 Sir Beaufort Stakes at Santa Anita on their Opening Day in 2006. He followed that with his initial Grade 1 triumph in the $300,000 Kilroe Mile in March 2007. On to Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., where a triumph in the Grade 2, $250,000 Makers Mark Mile stamped Kip Deville as a talented, turf miler. In Canada, he was a solid second in the Grade 1, $1 million Woodbine Mile which served as his final prep for his Breeders’ Cup appearance later in the fall.

Kip Deville deserved his chance to shine in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile, and his owners backed his potential by paying the $300,000 supplemental entry fee. On the most important day of his career, Kip Deville ran a near perfect race to become a Breeders’ Cup Champion, winning the 2007 Mile on the soft turf at Monmouth Park in New Jersey. The win made him the richest accredited Oklahoma-bred of all-time, moving him past state-bred legends such as Clever Trevor and Lady‘s Secret, the 1986 Horse of the Year.

Kip Deville could not defend his title in the 2008 Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita, finishing second to the sensational European-based filly Goldikova.

Retired due to a foot injury in August 2009, Kip Deville completed his racing career with 12 wins from 30 attempts, 24 of them over turf. He closed with seven graded stakes victories, four of them Grade 1s, and earnings of $3,325,489.