tapit trice is the tip of the classic iceberg for whisper hill

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mandy pope, Tapit, tapit trice, todd quast, whisper hill

Now a winner in three of his four starts, Tapit Trice (by Tapit) bounded into classic consideration with a dramatic come from behind victory in the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby.

Last at the start and 11th of 12 after a quarter, Tapit Trice was still in ninth place after three-quarters of a mile, but the gray colt swung out at least five wide around the turn, advanced notably through the stretch, and won by two lengths in the manner of a colt who will prove even better at a longer distance.

Yet another classic prospect by three-time leading national sire Tapit (Pulpit), Tapit Trice was bred in Kentucky by Gainesway Thoroughbreds, and they consigned the grand gray to the 2021 Keeneland September yearling sale, where he was purchased by Mandy Pope’s Whisper Hill Farm for $1.3 million. The colt races for Whisper Hill and Gainesway.

Todd Quast, racing manager for Whisper Hill, said that, “Tapit Trice was a good-sized yearling with plenty of scope. Mandy and I had looked through the consignments, had liked him and put a price on him, and Mandy really wanted him. She makes the final decision on the purchases. I was done at $1 million, but she kept poking me in the arm, and we got this guy. Now look where he’s taking us.”

Tapit Trice is the second foal out of the stakes winner Danzatrice (Dunkirk), who was bred in Kentucky by Glenn Justiss from the Orientate mare Lady Pewitt. Fourth in her only start, a maiden special at Woodbine, Lady Pewitt was purchased privately by Gainesway.

The operation bought the mare’s 2-year-old in training, a chestnut daughter of Dunkirk (Unbridled’s Song), at the OBS April sale in 2014 for $105,000 from Grassroots Training and Sales.

From the second crop by Dunkirk, who ran second in the G1 Belmont Stakes, as well as the Florida Derby, Danzatrice won three stakes and was fourth in the G1 Acorn Stakes at Belmont. Dunkirk’s other stakes winners include G1 Champagne Stakes winner Havana, plus Chilean G1 winners El Rey Brillante (Tanteo de Potrillos) and Leitone (Dos Mil Guineas and El Derby).

Danzatrice was the second foal from her dam, and the mare produced a gray filly by the Unbridled’s Song stallion Cross Traffic in 2016. Bred by Gainesway and sold at the 2017 Keeneland September yearling sale for $190,000, that filly was named Jaywalk and became the Eclipse Award winner as a juvenile filly in 2018. Jaywalk won four of her five starts at two, including the G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and Frizette. At three, Jaywalk came back to win the G3 Delaware Oaks and was third in the G1 Ashland.

The appearance of Jaywalk in the family added quite a lift to the commercial appeal of this family, which traces to Tapit Trice’s fourth dam La Paz (Hold Your Peace), a winner of three stakes and the dam of four stakes winners, including Mission Impazible (Unbridled’s Song), winner of the G2 Louisiana Derby and New Orleans Handicap, and Forest Camp (Deputy Minister), winner of the G2 Del Mar Futurity.

The year after Jaywalk’s championship season, Gainesway consigned her half-sister to the 2019 Keeneland September sale and sold the filly by Empire Maker out of Lady Pewitt for $2 million. Named Miss Jessica J., that filly is unraced.

Tapit Trice followed suit as a seven-figure yearling in 2021, and he has followed a much different trajectory and is now a highly regarded member of the 3-year-old crop. The colt’s year-younger full sister, still unnamed, brought $1.1 million at last year’s Keeneland September sale when Tapit Trice was still unraced. The buyer?

Whisper Hill.

Quast said, “We already liked Tapit Trice enough last year to reach back in and buy her too,” even though the colt didn’t make his debut until Nov. 6, when he finished third in a maiden special at Aqueduct. The gray is unbeaten since.

In addition to Tapit Trice as a classic prospect, Whisper Hill also has Shopper’s Revenge (Tapit out of multiple G1 winner Stopchargingmaria), who is pointed for the Louisiana Derby next, and Classic Catch (Classic Empire), who has won a maiden special and an allowance and is expected to race next in the Wood Memorial.

Lurking in the shrubberies is homebred Magical Song (Tapit out of champion Songbird), and that 3-year-old filly is entered in a maiden special at Oaklawn on Mar. 17.

What a year it may be for Whisper Hill.

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leading sire war front set the pace in the sales lists at keeneland september in session one

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cathy sweezey, claiborne farm, mandy pope, war front, wayne sweezey, whisper hill farm

In a briskly successful first session of the Keeneland September yearling sale, the gross price rose 35 percent to $44.6 million, with an average price of $297,613. The top three prices at the opening session — $1 million and $1.45 million for two fillies and $900,000 for the top-priced colt — were paid for yearlings by Claiborne Farm stallion War Front (by Danzig).

The 12-year-old stallion, who looks so much like his sire that it’s a little spooky, enjoyed a fuller racing career than that great sire.

Whereas Danzig was unbeaten in three starts in fast time but no stakes, War Front raced three seasons and was first or second in nine of his 13 starts. The horse’s most important victory came in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Stakes at Saratoga, with seconds in the Vosburgh, Forego, Tom Fool, Mr. Prospector, and Deputy Minister.

So War Front was a sprinter who didn’t win a Grade 1 stakes, the Vanderbilt was a G2 at the time he won it, and took a place at Claiborne because owner-breeder Joseph Allen and a group of syndicate members believed in the horse and supported him through his early seasons with useful mares.

As a result of that support and his own innate qualities, War Front has climbed the ladder of stallion success. From being an interesting stallion prospect, the brawny bay has become one of the most respected stallions in the world, and his offspring are highly sought at the sales.

Obviously.

The stallion’s early yearlings looked the part, and buyers began picking them up early for good prices, which allowed breeders to continue to support him through the hard times of the bloodstock depression. Then when War Front’s first crops included major winners like The Factor (Malibu), Data Link (G1), Declaration of War (Juddmonte International and Queen Anne Stakes), and Summer Soiree (Del Mar Oaks), the breeders with foals and yearlings on the ground made a lot of money in times when they needed it.

And major breeders began flocking to the horse.

With first foals of 2008, War Front has risen to an advertised stud fee of $150,000 live foal, if you can find one. Nominations to the horse are tightly held by a syndicate. The syndicate is comprised of breeders who use their seasons. Getting one is about as easy as sneaking a gold bar out of Fort Knox.

That is, however, the traditional nature of a syndicate. And one of the virtues and privileges of being a member has traditionally been access. Yes, the right to breed to one of the best and most successful stallions in the world.

The mega-books approach to stallion management has diluted the concept of syndication out of all recognition for those of us with memories that extend past the last generation. But Claiborne Farm does have a long memory, both among the individuals responsible for its success and as a corporate body that has been a leader in bloodstock breeding in Kentucky for more than a century.

Claiborne Farm has long been a stick in the mud when it comes to newfangled ideas. And proud to be.

So now they have yet another world-class stallion.

And the world comes beating a path to their door in search of seasons to War Front or yearlings by the horse. Claiborne, as consignor, sold the $900,000 colt (Hip 106) and a $525,000 colt (Hip 109); Lane’s End, as consignor, sold the $1 million filly (Hip 99) and a $600,000 colt (Hip 182).

But Timber Town (Wayne and Cathy Sweezey), selling for major buyer and now breeder Mandy Pope (Whisper Hill Farm), put the ball out of the park with the session-topping yearling at $1.45 million. The filly is the first foal of the group-placed Galileo mare Betterbetterbetter, an Irish-bred half-sister to classic winner Yesterday and G1 winner Quarter Moon, and Betterbetterbetter was sold for $5.2 million carrying this filly at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November sale in 2013.

Betterbetterbetter did her job and produced a good-sized and robust foal on Jan. 16 last year who grew into a very appealing yearling. The session-topper responded well to the sales prep and presentation at the September sale by Timber Town, and her hammer price indicates how inspectors found her at the barn.

As a sales yearling and racing prospect for buyer Shadwell Farm, the War Front filly is a credit to all who knew her and helped her along the way.

groupie doll made a bold finish for breeder and owner

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bowman's band, groupie doll, mandy pope, william bradley

As we saw in her bold finish of the Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie Stakes at Gulfstream, Groupie Doll has all the requirements of a racehorse. She is fast, game, and focused. When asked for her best, she gives it, and Groupie Doll has a lot to give.

The Hurricane Bertie was probably the final race of her career, and Groupie Doll showed that she is in as good a form as ever with her 12th victory in 23 starts. Coming from behind with her usual run, the powerful 6-year-old strode away from her competition to win by seven lengths in 1:14.68 for six and a half furlongs.

Bred in Kentucky by Fred Bradley and William “Buff” Bradley, Groupie Doll is the best offspring of the Dixieland Band stallion Bowman’s Band. The sire was a G2 stakes winner of more than $1.3 million, and Bowman’s Band ran second in the G1 Metropolitan Handicap and Oaklawn Handicap, as well as finishing third in the G1 Whitney, Woodward, and Pimlico Special.

Buff Bradley recalled that he went to Lane’s End Farm to see some new stallions there and “was walking through the barn when I saw this big chestnut, and they said Bowman’s Band had just come down from Maryland. I liked his looks, saw what he had done when I got home, and decided we would breed some mares to him.”

Groupie Doll was the result.

An Eclipse Award winner and successful four times at the G1 level, Groupie Doll has some credits that place her ahead of her sire as a racehorse. He was a ruggedly made horse with scope and a robust constitution. These he passed on to his famous daughter, who is the best of the stallion’s 13 stakes winners (seven percent to live foals).

Groupie Doll is out of the Silver Deputy mare Deputy Doll, whom Fred Bradley bought for $25,000 as a yearling at the 1997 Keeneland September sale. Twice a winner from 14 starts, Deputy Doll was a “nice-looking mare with a good hip and a strong shoulder,” according to Buff Bradley’s wife, Kim.

Buff Bradley said that “Deputy Doll was all class, and we thought she was something special, but she had problems; so we had to stop on her,” and Deputy Doll was an automatic choice as a broodmare because of the trainer’s regard for her talent.

The mare was unlucky, however, getting some foals who did not have the best conformation or constitution. After four so-so foals, the big, correct, and tough Bowman’s Band seemed like a choice who might bring out the best in the dam, and the mating worked so well that Kim Bradley said, “Groupie Doll’s nickname at the farm was Beyonce because she was so beautiful.”

After producing her subsequent champion, Deputy Doll’s ill luck continued. The mare had difficulty getting in foal, never produced another foal, and before Groupie Doll’s class was revealed, the mare was given to the driver who hauls horses for the farm. Deputy Doll was later struck by lightning and died.

Groupie Doll turned around that run of ill fortune on the racetrack, and over three seasons of racing, she won 11 races for the Bradleys and earned more than $2.5 million. As breeders of horses they raced, the Bradleys had a practical decision to make, and they sold Groupie Doll at last year’s Keeneland November sale to Mandy Pope’s Whisper Hill Farm for $3.1 million.

Raising her value to such a level required some serious racing on the part of Groupie Doll. The mare didn’t race at 2 because she was growing and had “some minor issues,” Buff Bradley said. “She always trained well, but we took her back to the farm, turned her out, Kim looked after her, and we started Groupie Doll back training at Keeneland in the winter.”

Groupie Doll just got better and better.

The mare clearly responded well to Bradley’s training, and he said, “When we get them fit, we don’t drill on them. When she got to racing, we didn’t gallop her more than a mile and a quarter, but she did a lot of jogging. That helped to keep her fresh and happy.”

Now 6, Groupie Doll has stayed happy and sound with a racing career that has propelled her to the top of her division and made her a racehorse of international interest. The trainer said that she shares some traits with his earlier star racehorse, Brass Hat.

“They both are aware of themselves. They will pose for a camera, will stand on the track, take everything in and relax. They don’t let little things bother them, and they can overcome things in racing too,” Buff Bradley concluded.

That focus and self-possession allowed both horses to put their energy into racing and to make the best of the opportunities they were presented. What more can we hope for in horses or humans?

**The preceding post was first published last week at Paulick Report.

In the meantime, Groupie Doll has left Buff Bradley’s training barn at Gulfstream Park and is spending some time for resting and light activity at Goldmark in Ocala. Plans for the rest of the year for the champion mare have not been announced.