Kappa Kappa named Pennsylvania-bred Horse of the Year after Raven Run win

Kappa Kappa’s upset in Keeneland’s Raven Run became the signature race that powered Pennsylvania’s state-bred program’s biggest honor. The Omaha Beach filly was named 2025 Pennsylvania-bred Horse of the Year at the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association’s 47th annual Iroquois Awards on May 8, and she also earned champion 3-year-old filly and female sprinter.

The award package gives Pennsylvania breeders exactly the kind of profile they want: a homegrown horse by Omaha Beach out of Pharoah’s Princess, by Pioneerof the Nile, bred in the state by Stone Jug Ranch LLC and raced for LC Racing LLC, Cash is King LLC and trainer Butch Reid’s Wellesley Stable. Kappa Kappa’s honors show how a Pennsylvania-bred can move from regional promise to open-company relevance, then use that graded-stakes breakthrough to become the face of the program.

Her 2025 campaign had the kind of concrete form that makes the title hard to argue. She won three of five starts, starting with a 9 3/4-length maiden victory at Parx on July 24, then adding a Pennsylvania-bred allowance win there on Sept. 19 before stepping onto the biggest stage of her career. In the 27th running of the $400,000 Lexus Raven Run Stakes (G2) on Oct. 18 at Keeneland, Kappa Kappa went off at 27-1 after drawing in from the also-eligible list following scratches, then battled back in deep stretch to edge Vodka With a Twist by a head under John R. Velazquez. She covered 7 furlongs in 1:23.90 for her first stakes victory.

That Raven Run result is what makes the Pennsylvania honor feel like more than a trophy announcement. It is a clear example of the state-bred system working the way breeders and owners hope it will: an in-state horse earns local eligibility, proves herself in state-bred company, and then cashes in against graded-stakes rivals on a national weekend stage. Recent Pennsylvania-bred Horse of the Year winners such as Caravel in 2022 and Angel of Empire in 2023 followed a similar pattern of local roots paired with major success.

Kappa Kappa’s next step suggests the story is not finished. As of May 12, she was being pointed to the $125,000 Skipat at Laurel Park for her 4-year-old debut, keeping a 2025 standout in the spotlight and extending the reach of a Pennsylvania-bred program that now has a fresh, concrete blueprint for success.