After recording one minor win as a two-year-old she reached her peak in the spring and summer of the following year, taking major prizes in the Irish 1000 Guineas and the Coronation Stakes.
Katies was a "big, rangy" bay or brown mare with a narrow white blaze bred in Ireland by Mareco Ltd. As a yearling she was sold at auction for 11,000 guineas and sent into training with Mick Ryan.
[2] Katies finished unplaced on her first appearance as a three-year-old and then defeated the Henry Cecil-trained Ophrys by half a length in a minor race over seven furlongs at Leicester Racecourse in April.
She came under pressure in the closing stages but held on to win narrowly from Alianna, So Fine and Lady of the House, with Desirable in fifth, the favourite Masarika (Poule d'Essai des Pouliches) in sixth and the future Irish Oaks winner Princess Pati in seventh place.
[5] Katies started odds-on favourite for the Child Stakes at Newmarket Racecourse in July but was beaten into second place by the 1000 Guineas runner-up Meis-El-Reem, to whom she was conceding six pounds in weight.
On her final appearance of the season, Katies was matched against older horses and male opposition in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot Racecourse in September.
[5] In their annual Racehorses of 1983 the independent Timeform organization gave her a rating of 85, making her more than thirty pounds inferior to the best fillies of her generation while commenting that she would "stay 1m".