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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tapit continues to strike up the beat as a broodmare sire

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Gainesway Farm, into mischief cross with tapit, pretty city dancer, pretty mischievous, Tapit

A victory in the Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra Stakes at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans moved the race record of Pretty Mischievous (by Into Mischief) to four wins from five starts, with earnings of $421,310. The filly’s sole loss came as a third in the G2 Golden Rod Stakes at Churchill last fall.

She has come along nicely from her debut win at Churchill in September, and at each step in the progression from maiden to graded stakes winner (accepting the placing in the Golden Rod as a thoroughly creditable effort), Pretty Mischievous has shown evidence of greater strength and maturity.

She is a very nice filly, and both trainer Brendan Walsh and owner-breeder Godolphin must be well-pleased with the result of this mating.

Bred in Kentucky by Godolphin, Pretty Mischievous is the second foal of the G1 winner Pretty City Dancer (Tapit), whose most important success came in the 2016 Spinaway Stakes at two. Pretty City Dancer won Saratoga’s premier race for juvenile fillies in a dead heat with another daughter of Tapit, Sweet Loretta, who won four of her six starts, including the Schuylerville at Saratoga and the Beaumont Stakes at Keeneland.

A lovely gray, Pretty City Dancer was bred in Kentucky by Gainesway and was presented by them at the 2015 Keeneland September yearling sale, where she sold for $825,000 to John Oxley. The filly won the 2016 Spinaway and ran second in the 2017 Forward Gal Stakes. At the end of the filly’s 3-year-old season, Oxley retired her, bred her to Medaglia d’Oro the following spring, and sold her at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November sale. There, Godolphin bought the young mare for $3.5 million.

The foal Pretty City Dancer was carrying at the time of sale is the now 4-year-old Ornamental, and she is the winner of a maiden special.

Godolphin is not the only breeder to have noticed that matching Tapit mares with Into Mischief is a productive cross. This month alone, Interpolate, winner of the Ruthless Stakes at Aqueduct on Feb. 5, and Rocket Can, winner of the G3 Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream on Feb. 4, are other stakes winners bred on the cross of Into Mischief with daughters of Tapit. In the Rachel Alexandra, odds-on favorite Hoosier Philly, who ran third after an eventful trip, is bred on the same cross. She was unbeaten coming into the Rachel Alexandra, including among her victories the Golden Rod last year over Pretty Mischievous.

Tapit is proving himself as important a broodmare sire as he is a sire of racers, and he was the leading broodmare sire by number of stakes winners (26) in 2022, finishing in a tie with Giant’s Causeway (Storm Cat). The wave is rolling on even stronger this year, with a half-dozen stakes winners already, and Tapit is second in earnings behind Distorted Humor (by Forty Niner), the broodmare sire of 2023 Pegasus winner Art Collector (Bernardini).

In addition to his stakes winners this year by Into Mischief, Tapit is also the broodmare sire of Hit Show (Candy Ride), winner of the G3 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct and a winner in three of his four starts.

As a broodmare sire or as a sire, Tapit does not match simply a few sire lines. The grand gray denizen of Gainesway Farm’s fabled stallion complex matches a broad spectrum of lines and types. If a mare is big and coarse or rangy and unfurnished, Tapit will bring their offspring back toward the norm, and one of the remarkable qualities of Tapit as a sire is how much he can do to improve the proportions and functionality of broodmares.

As a sire and obviously also as a broodmare sire, Tapit works to normalize leg lengths, body lengths to height, and frame to overall substance. You might say he imparts a good deal of quality and overall balance because that is the visual effect.

Those are good things to add to a mating, and Tapit is a generally dominant force in normalizing the characteristics of his mates.

With Tapit’s two best sons (multiple champion Essential Quality and Horse of the Year Flightline) retired to stud for 2022 and 2023, the best results from Tapit as a sire of stallions is yet to come, but his daughters have given an indication of what can result from judicious matings. There will be more to this story.

phipps family breeding is at the bottom of flightline’s ascent toward greatness

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bobby spalding, feathered, flightline, jane lyon, lady pitt, ogden phipps, st elias, summer wind farm, Tapit

To win a race so impressively that it’s fleetingly compared to one of the great events, like Secretariat’s Belmont Stakes, is a major accomplishment for a racehorse and its owner and caretakers. To actually run a race that is comparable … boggles the mind.

Yet that is what Flightline did in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic on Saturday, Sept. 3.

In winning the race by 19 ¼ lengths in 1:59.28, the dark bay son of Tapit (by Pulpit) ran his unbeaten career race record to five and added a third G1 to previous top-level victories in the Malibu and Metropolitan Handicap.

A $1 million sale yearling from Fasig-Tipton‘s Saratoga sale from three years ago, Flightline was bred in Kentucky by Jane Lyon’s Summer Wind Farm and is an athletic son of one of the farm’s premium producers, Feathered, herself a daughter of leading sire and broodmare sire Indian Charlie (In Excess) and Receipt (Dynaformer).

Summer Wind’s farm manager, Bobby Spalding, said that “Flightline was always a nice, level-headed colt who impressed you with his natural athleticism, but when you’re watching them grow up, you don’t know that one of them is going to win a Grade 1 by nearly 20 lengths. That’s just amazing!

“[Trainer] John Sadler has done a marvelous job with this colt, and he’s grown up to be a grand individual. I think they said he was 16.2. His mamma’s only just 16 hands, maybe, but she’s the kind of mare that I like, not too big, not out of proportion anywhere. Just real nice, and this is a wonderful family,” Spalding concluded.

This is a wonderful family, full of high-quality racehorses and producers, that had been in the hands of the Phipps family from the mid-1960s.

The Phipps patriarch Ogden Phipps, breeder and owner of champion Buckpasser, was always open to freshening the broodmare band and took the opportunity to purchase 1966 champion 3-year-old filly Lady Pitt (Sword Dancer). A winner of the Coaching Club American Oaks, Delaware Oaks, and Mother Goose, Lady Pitt was a medium-sized chestnut more notable for toughness than brilliant speed. Bred in Kentucky by John W. Greathouse, Lady Pitt was a stakes winner at two, but she came into a higher level of form at three, finishing first in six races, including the Alabama (disqualified to second for bearing in on second-place Natashka).

The daughter of 1959 Belmont Stakes winner Sword Dancer was elected champion of her division over Natashka (Dedicate) and Phipps’s Destro (Ribot), and the great racing commentator Charlie Hatton noted that Phipps thought Lady Pitt deserved the award due to her consistency, being in the money 12 times from 16 starts. She stood 15.3 hands at the end of her 3-year-old season.

The owner-breeder stood behind his assessment and added the mare to his broodmare portfolio at Claiborne Farm when the opportunity came. Bred to Buckpasser, Lady Pitt produced Bank of England in 1970, and she is the ancestress of the four-time Grade 1 winner and 2022 freshman sire Oscar Performance (Kitten’s Joy). Six years later, Lady Pitt foaled the notably talented Blitey (Riva Ridge).

A winner of the Test, Ballerina, and Maskette before any of those three were elevated to Grade 1 races, Blitey produced the highly accomplished Dancing Spree (Nijinsky), who won Grade 1s at six furlongs (Breeders’ Cup Sprint), seven furlongs (Carter), and 10 furlongs (Suburban). His full sisters were Grade 2 winner Dancing All Night and Oh What a Dance, the dam of champion Heavenly Cause (Seeking the Gold).

A half-sister to this trio was Fantastic Find (Mr. Prospector), who won the G1 Hempstead and was second in the G1 Test and Ballerina after they went to the top-level designation. Fantastic Find is the fourth dam of Flightline through her daughter Finder’s Fee (Storm Cat), winner of the G1 Matron at two, the G1 Acorn at three.

A major disappointment as a producer, Finder’s Fee did not produce a stakes winner, but the mare’s most successful racer, stakes-placed Receipt, is the second dam of Flightline.

Receipt was third in a listed stakes at Saratoga, as well as fourth in a Grade 2 there, but her branch of the family might have appeared to be going stale, because the Phipps Stable chose to sell her, in foal to Indian Charlie, at the 2012 Keeneland January sale. The mare brought $350,000 from St. Elias Stable. Five months later, she produced Feathered.

Bred by Teresa Viola Racing Stable, Feathered was a May foal, like much of this family, but nonetheless was progressive enough to be a featured prospect at the 2014 OBS March sale from the late J.J. Crupi’s New Castle Farm, agent, and sold for $300,000 to Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners.

Feathered won her second start, a maiden special at Saratoga, then showed high form in a trio of Grade 1 races, finishing third in the Frizette, fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, and second in the Hollywood Starlet.

The following season, Feathered won a couple more races, including the G3 Edgewood Stakes at Churchill Downs, and ran second in the G1 American Oaks. Retired and sent to leading sire War Front (Danzig), Feathered was sold through the 2016 Keeneland November sale, with Hill ‘n’ Dale Sales as agent, for $2.35 million to Summer Wind.

The mare’s first foal was the bay filly Good on Paper, a winner at three who earned $52,940. She was sold privately before racing to Glen Hill Farm.

The second foal out of Feathered was Flightline.

Feathered has a 2-year-old full brother to Flightline named Olivier, who was a $390,000 RNA at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale. The colt most recently worked at Keeneland on Sept. 3 (five furlongs in 1:02.2) and has been retained in a partnership. Feathered has a yearling colt by Curlin (Smart Strike), a filly at side foaled on May 17 by Into Mischief (Harlan’s Holiday), and was bred to Tapit.

Spalding said that the initial thought “had been to leave Feathered open and breed the next year, but Mrs. Lyon asked about sending her to Tapit. We only had time for a single cover, but she had the right idea. Unfortunately, the mare did not get in foal.”

Flightline is one of 95 Northern Hemisphere-bred graded winners for Tapit and one of 152 black-type winners for the three-time national leading sire, who stands at Gainesway.

love’s abounding for cupid and super sire tapit

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cupid, gladiateur, Oaklawn Park, rebel stakes, swynford, Tapit

Love’s abounding for Cupid (by Tapit) after his sharp-looking victory in the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park on March 19. The good-looking gray won his second race and first stakes from four starts and now has earned $587,500.

This effort will be enough to propel Cupid into the talk about the Kentucky Derby, but even coming out of the Bob Baffert training barn, Cupid is clearly less experienced and less tested than many of his competitors, including class leaders Nyquist (Uncle Mo) and Mohaymen (also by Tapit).

In addition, Cupid is yet another May foal in the leading tier of this crop, along with Mohaymen, who was foaled May 2. Cupid was born on May 19 and was bred in Kentucky by JKG Thoroughbreds LLC. Consigned to the Keeneland September sale in 2014 through Van Meter Sales, agent, the colt sold for $900,000 to M.V. Magnier and races for Michael Tabor, Susan Magnier, and Derrick Smith.

In addition to the colt’s good looks and marquee sire, he was a legitimate candidate to return a major sale because he is a half-brother to three other stakes winners: G3 stakes winners Ashley’s Kitty and Heart Ashley (by Tale of the Cat and his son Lion Heart), plus stakes winner Indianapolis (Medaglia d’Oro).

Their dam is the Beau Genius mare Pretty ‘n Smart, who ran third in the G2 Railbird Stakes in 2001. As a racer, Pretty ‘n Smart was considerably better than an empty stall, but as a broodmare, she has been much more. From eight foals to race, all are winners, and half are stakes winners, three at graded level.

That’s what breeders hope for when they bring home a new mare.

Pretty ‘n Smart is a half-sister to multiple G3 winner Hostess (Chester House), whose most impressive race was probably the G3 Glens Falls Handicap, in which she set a new course record for 11 furlongs at Saratoga. Till Pretty ‘n Smart and Hostess showed up, this family had gone quiet for a generation when the third dam, the Secretariat mare Office Affair, had not produced a black-type horse among her seven winners in two hemispheres.

Office Affair’s dam, however, was a much different proposition. She is Mlle. Liebe, a daughter of Buckpasser’s half-brother Bupers (Double Jay), who produced two stakes winners and two daughters who produced stakes winners.

Gladiateur, winner of the English Triple Crown, is one of numerous classic winners in the extended pedigree of 2016 Rebel Stakes winner Cupid.

 

So, Cupid has an interesting family with some good relations. Looking at the big picture of his ancestors, Cupid counts 10 winners of the English Triple Crown in his pedigree and six winners of the American. The English Triple Crown winners in Cupid’s pedigree are West Australian (won in 1853), Gladiateur (1865), Lord Lyon (1866), Ormonde (1886), Isinglass (1893), Flying Fox (1899), Rock Sand (1903), Gay Crusader (1917), Gainsborough (1918), and Nijinsky (1970). The American Triple Crown winners in Cupid’s ancestry are Gallant Fox (1930), Omaha (1935), War Admiral (1937), Count Fleet (1943), Secretariat (1973), and Seattle Slew (1977).

In working up these snippets of information, I also discovered that there have been at least 18 previous Cupids, and almost certainly others that I didn’t find.

The earliest recorded Cupid was one by the Darley Arabian back in the early 18^th century when the breeders of Thoroughbreds were largely gentlemen looking for sport, and the breed was not a canonized emblem of pedigree and certified lineage.

The Rebel Stakes winner is the youngest Cupid, although there was another one (bay filly by Fastnet Rock) foaled in 2012 in Australia.

Swynford, a superior racehorse in England and a world-class sire for Lord Derby, is the male-line ancestor of Cupid (1961), who was a very good handicapper from 6 to 10 furlongs in the early 1960s.

 

Prior to the current Cupid, one of the most accomplished was a colt by Generous out of the Foolish Pleasure mare Idyllic who won the Ballysax Stakes in 1999 as a 3-year-old and had been third in the G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud the previous year. In addition to France and Ireland, Cupid (1996) also raced in Australia and Hong Kong and made 98 starts.

The other highly accomplished Cupid was a Vertex gelding out of Nymph (Sun Again), who was foaled in 1961. A chestnut gelding, Cupid (1961) improved greatly with age and won the Paumonok Handicap at 4, then the San Carlos Handicap at 5, when he also finished second in the Santa Anita Handicap.

As these and other Cupids will teach us, amid the slings and arrows of outrageous racing fortune, love of the horse is the one glorious certainty.

new york breeding poised for a changing of the guard, like the rest of the country

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freud, honorable dillon, male lines in breeding, new york thoroughbred breeding, stallion succession, storm cat, Tapit

In the aftermath of a smashing sale of New York-breds at Saratoga over the past weekend, I see a couple of trends in the breeding industry there. One is the national trend strongly leaning toward Tapit, particularly through his sons. The other is a continuing advance through the quality of dams, which is more subtle.

The influence of Tapit in the breed nationally is approaching that seen with Storm Cat a decade ago and more, and here follows a look at two stallions who are emblematic of the present and future of the Empire State: Freud, a full brother to Giant’s Causeway who has been New York’s leading sire every year since 2008; and Honorable Dillon, a Grade 2-winning son of leading sire Tapit who entered stud in 2015 and proved very popular among breeders in his first season.

Freud: A Star for Storm Cat
Dominance in any field has some subjective qualities, but those who truly dominate also show consistency. They are good, every day and every way, including when they are less than their best.

Consistency of racing stock is one way to assess the importance of Freud to the New York breeding program. The 17-year-old son of Storm Cat and Mariah’s Storm has sired 69 percent starters from foals, 49 percent winners, which places him about 15 percent above the breed norms of 60 and 42. And he has 6 percent stakes winners, which puts him at nearly 100 percent above the breed norm.

Not bad.

Furthermore, the blocky bay has total progeny earnings to date of more than $35 million, with average earnings per runner of $76,252. With stats like those, it is no surprise that Freud is the leading New York-based stallion.

All this is nothing less than what his pedigree promised. As a son of Storm Cat, Freud was a desirable stallion prospect when he went to stud, and being a full brother to international star Giant’s Causeway ensured that the dark bay would get a fair assessment from breeders.

They would not have given Freud the same treatment based solely on his race record. He raced a dozen times, winning only a piddling maiden race at the Curragh. That he also made the third spot in the Group 2 Cork & Orrery Stakes at Ascot was to his credit, even more so when considering that Invincible Spirit and Bahamian Pirate were among the beaten field.

The race record, however, didn’t cut a dashing figure when the time came for him to enter stud. Freud found no favor in the major leagues of breeding, but their loss proved to be New York’s gain.

The stallion translated his own suspect form into consistent athleticism among his offspring, who are rugged enough and game enough to win lots of races. Some of them also show class, and among the stallion’s best runners are G1 winners Giant Ryan and Franny Freud. From his innings at stud in Argentina at Haras La Legenda, Freud has sired good performers like G2 winner Must Go On, who won the Gran Premio Chacabuco at Palermo.

Demand for his offspring has made Freud one of the most popular stallions in New York, with eight yearlings consigned to the New York-bred sale at Saratoga.

Among the more interesting lots are Hips 316 and 480. The first is a half-brother to stakes-placed Make the Moment (earnings of $335,720). He is out of the Silver Deputy mare Pretty Pretty, and his second dam is graded stakes winner Careless Heiress, a winner twice at the G3 level and four times graded placed. The second is out of stakes winner Fly to Me, by former New York stallion Belong to Me (by Danzig). This makes Hip 480 line-bred to Northern Dancer through Storm Bird and Danzig, and the colt’s third dam is the tough stakes winner Nurse Dopey.

Overall, for athleticism and racing enthusiasm, Freud has proven a star for Storm Cat and the New York program.

Honorable Dillon: Growing Impact of Tapit
In the no holds barred arena of stallion competition, there is little fantasizing about what it takes to make a significant sire: winners. Lots of them and the higher the class the better.

Among proven stallions in New York, Freud stands clear. He is an honorable representative of the powerful Storm Cat line, known for its speed, and is a full brother to leading international sire Giant’s Causeway.

In the continuing flux of Thoroughbred breeding, however, the king of the mountain in Kentucky these days is Tapit. There has been a changing of the guard, especially in American breeding, with a continuing shift toward the A.P. Indy line of horses. As a grandson of A.P. Indy, Tapit stands at the head of the class, along with other important sires like Malibu Moon, Bernardini, Flatter, Stroll, and Congrats.

Tapit, however, is the leading sire, and he has proven that as his books improve, his gross earnings and race results have too. And sons of Tapit are horses that breeders want to use.

Not surprisingly, enterprising breeders brought the Tapit son Honorable Dillon to New York and stood him at Rockridge Farm near Hudson, N.Y. They sent him to stud in 2015 with a fee of $5,000 stand and nurse, and breeders nearly trampled the place getting to the stallion.

One of the reasons for the interest in Honorable Dillon is the growing impact of Tapit, who has made himself the leading sire in America with champion juveniles like Stardom Bound and Hansen; classic stock like Tonalist (Belmont), Frosted (Wood Memorial), Careless Jewel (Alabama), and Untapable (Kentucky Oaks); and high-class winners like Constitution (Florida Derby), Joyful Victory (Santa Margarita), Tapizar (Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile), and Zazu (Lady’s Secret).

Rockridge’s owner-manager Lere Visagie said, “Honorable Dillon was so fertile that you could count on one hand all the mares who weren’t in foal after his first 60 days at stud. So we kept adding mares.”

The horse’s appeal is not limited to the strength of his sire. Honorable Dillon is a good-looking horse standing 16 hands. He has the balance and quality we have come to expect from the stock by Tapit, and he is a gray, mimicking his famous sire in color and deportment.

Honorable Dillon is out of the Argentine mare Shy Greeting (by Shy Tom), who was stakes-placed in her homeland. In Argentina, Shy Greeting produced Forty Greeta (Roar), a champion 2-year-old filly and twice winner at the G1 level, including the Estrellas Juvenile Fillies.

Brought to the States, Shy Greeting produced Honorable Dillon, who won the G2 Hutcheson Stakes at Gulfstream.

The family, although based in Argentina, has some familiar names. The young stallion’s second dam is by top American sprinter Groovy and produced a sibling to Shy Greeting who is the dam of Greco Tom, winner of the G1 Estrellas Juniors Sprint. Honorable Dillon’s third dam is G1 winner Gioconda (Good Manners), the dam of Fayette Handicap winner Good Command.

This is the family of Argentine star racehorse and stallion Farnesio, who was produced by Honorable Dillon’s fifth dam.

leading sire tapit made a huge impression with buyers at fasig-tipton’s saratoga select yearling sale

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Gainesway Farm, michael hernon, saratoga sales, Tapit

America’s leading sire, Tapit, took over the 2015 Saratoga select yearling sale, with four of his first session yearlings bringing a gross of $4,350,000 for an average price that’s just a bit more than $1 million.

The sleek, silvery-gray son of Pulpit entered stud in 2005, and his chief claim to fame at the time was victory in the Grade 1 Wood Memorial. Such a victory was nothing to sneeze at, but with dozens of stallion prospects filling slots at farms around the Bluegrass, Tapit was somewhat overlooked.

What was the big deal, anyway? He wasn’t by Storm Cat.

Fifteen years ago, the best thing a stallion prospect could be was “sired by Storm Cat,” with a G1 victory or two on his race record.

For one thing, these sire prospects usually fit the Storm Cat type, which the sales market loved. A powerfully built horse himself with great length through the body, Storm Cat was a power horse who sired the same, and after he proved more than capable of getting winners at the highest level, breeders and buyers drove the market to prize the deep shoulders and massive quarters that were so distinctive in his stock.

In contrast, Tapit is a more balanced horse. On the medium side of large, Tapit and his sons or daughters generally have plenty of muscle, but they don’t look like weight lifters.

I well recall when inspecting foals nearly a decade ago, and Gainesway’s Michael Hernon told me how good the Tapit foals were and urged me to look at them. Right he was. They were smooth, elegant, and tightly muscled little athletes.

Then and now, the Tapit stock are full of activity. They are not dead on a shank when a handler leads them out of a stall to show or walks one up and down a show ring for the umpteenth time.

The stallion’s first foals looked like and acted like little racehorses, and size (wrongly) was the chief knock on Tapit’s early offspring. The foals look like foals, and the yearlings look like yearlings, not 2-year-olds before training.

Buyers and perhaps trainers have had to accustom themselves to the Tapit type, which is notably different from the Storm Cat type, but both are good.

There is a smoothness and quality to the Tapits that suggests a superior type of miler, and plenty can carry their innate speed around two turns.

For instance, Tapit’s son Tonalist won the Belmont Stakes and Jockey Club Gold Cup last year, and the stallion’s son Frosted won the Wood Memorial and then finished second behind American Pharoah in the Belmont Stakes this year.

The classic success of some of Tapit’s stock is important because nearly all of them have speed, that most important quality in top-class Thoroughbreds. But racing 10 and 12 furlongs effectively is a badge of honor and accomplishment that makes Tapit and his offspring much more desirable around the world.

And that was one of the things we saw in the buying at the first session of the Saratoga sale.

At the sale on Monday evening, four of the five lots sold, with only the filly, Hip 24 out of Wow Me Free, being bought back at $950,000. The session’s highest-priced lot went for $2 million to El Capi Racing, a partnership of Venezuelan investors, Hip 34 (out of Appealing Zophie) sold to a partnership of Americans for $1.2 million, and Hip 49 (out of Carriage Trade) was purchased by John Ferguson at $750,000 for Godolphin.

Godolphin, not incidentally, bred and races Frosted, who finished second, beaten a half-length by Texas Red, in the Jim Dandy as his prep for the G1 Travers, and when international racing operations purchase yearlings, they envision them going on to do the grandest things.

They also consider the big picture of breeding and the potential of sons and daughters of Tapit as breeding stock.

Important developments in this regard at the Saratoga sale include Hip 62, a fetching Medaglia d’Oro colt out of graded stakes winner Dancinginherdreams (by Tapit). The colt sold for $500,000 to Todd Quast, agent.

And two yearlings from the only American crop by Tapit’s champion son Hansen were consigned by Crestwood Farm for breeder Kendall Hansen. The filly out of Where Woody Bea (Hip 20) sold for $250,000 to Skychai Racing, and the colt out of Airizon (Hip 29) sold for $200,000 to West Point Thoroughbreds.

More important than the exact prices, both yearlings looked the part as quality racing prospects.

If Hansen’s first-crop performers, or the young racers by Tapit sons like Trappe Shot, Tapizar, and Flashback strike the top, then what we saw Monday night was only the tip of the iceberg in the demand for Tapit.

 

**The demand for yearlings by Tapit continued on Tuesday evening. The two-day results for the sire are below.

24 F TAPIT x WOW ME FREE WARRENDALE SALES AGENT III NOT SOLD ($950,000)

34 C TAPIT x APPEALING ZOPHIE DENALI STUD (CRAIG & HOLLY BANDOROFF) AGENT II BRIDLEWOOD FARM, ECLIPSE TB PARTNERS, ROBERT LAPENTA $1,200,000

49 C TAPIT x CARRIAGE TRADE HUNTER VALLEY FARM AGENT JOHN FERGUSON $750,000

51 C TAPIT x CHARMING LEGACY (IRE) WINTER QUARTER FARM AGENT HARTLEY/DE RENZO THOROUGHBREDS $400,000

70 C TAPIT x DRESS REHEARSAL (IRE) FOUR STAR SALES AGENT EL CAPI RACING LLC $2,000,000

156 F TAPIT x ITHINKISAWAPUDYCAT TAYLOR MADE SALES AGENCY AGENT XXI OUT

160 F TAPIT x PRINCESS ARABELLA LANE’S END AGENT CHEYENNE STABLES LLC $750,000

177 F TAPIT x ROSE OF KILLARNEY GAINESWAY AGENT IX NOT SOLD ($500,000)

182 C TAPIT x SAVVY SUPREME TAYLOR MADE SALES AGENCY AGENT LXVII AL SHAQAB RACING $700,000

197 C TAPIT x SOMETHINABOUTLAURA PARAMOUNT SALES AGENT IX CRUPI’S NEW CASTLE FARM INC $400,000

leading sires are shining as their classic prospects win major preps

Tags

big brown, carpe diem, dortmund, frosted, giant's causeway, Tapit

This weekend’s classic preps brought a set of Kentucky Derby contenders into the foreground. At least they are contenders if anything can challenge the great bounding stag named American Pharoah in the 10-furlong classic on the first Saturday in May.

The biggest and most perfect is unbeaten Dortmund (by Big Brown), winner of the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on Saturday. Both he and American Pharoah are trained by Bob Baffert, who has kept Dortmund at home and sent American Pharoah travelling for spring preps.

The sire of each colt showed classic form. Dortmund’s sire, Big Brown, won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness during his championship season, and American Pharoah’s sire, Pioneerof the Nile, was second in the Derby and got last season’s champion 2-year-old from his second crop.

While both the sires above have only a handful of crops, the sires of the winners of the Bluegrass Stakes and Wood Memorial are two of the best-known and most successful stallions in the world, Giant’s Causeway and Tapit.

A chestnut son of Storm Cat, Giant’s Causeway was a top-class performer with an outstanding constitution and unrivalled competitiveness. Now 17, Giant’s Causeway has sired an average of more than 140 foals with 12 crops of racing age.

A G1 winner at 2 and classic-placed in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket and in the Irish 2,000 Guineas at The Curragh, Giant’s Causeway won five G1 races at 3 and showed his form at up to 10.5 furlongs, although he was never tried over farther, and one of his most memorable races was a gallant second to Horse of the Year Tiznow in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs.

Generally considered the best racing son of his famous sire Storm Cat, Giant’s Causeway has proven both an immodestly successful stallion and one who is distinctly different from his sire. The Storm Cats tend to breed toward power, speed, and precocity, but the stock by Giant’s Causeway tend to be leggier and lighter, with a noted tendency toward improvement with age and sturdiness in training.

In fact, among the graded winners this year by Giant’s Causeway, there is 7-year-old Imagining, as well as the 6-year-olds Irish Mission and Coltrane and the 5-year-old Top Juliette.

The sire’s 3-year-olds include the top juvenile filly from 2014, Take Charge Brandi, and the highly regarded Carpe Diem, who won the G1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland last fall and returned to win the Blue Grass impressively.

Although Take Charge Brandi is on the sidelines, Carpe Diem has seized the day and will be one of the favored contenders for the upcoming classics. Once-beaten, in the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, Carpe Diem has earned the regard of handicappers, much as he impressed yearling and 2-year-old buyers.

The attractive chestnut brought $550,000 at the Keeneland September sale, and buyer Northwest Stud pinhooked Carpe Diem to the 2014 Ocala Breeders Sales March auction, where Stonestreet Stables signed the ticket at $1.6 million.

The colt races for the partnership of Stonestreet and WinStar Farm, and Carpe Diem was one of the stars at the OBS March sale last year. He scooted a furlong in :10 1/5, with the impressive rhythm and stretch that suggested he would improve greatly, and he ran with a stride length of 25 feet, which placed Carpe Diem in an excellent league and brought out the big guns when he went through the ring.

Not every good horse goes through to sale, though.

A Darley homebred, Wood Memorial winner Frosted (Tapit) never went through the sales, and he is clearly not as precocious as Carpe Diem. A maiden winner on Oct. 30 last fall, Frosted stepped up to finish second in the G2 Remsen a month later. So he had some class early on and then ran second in the Holy Bull earlier this year.

Victory in the Wood, however, was a major step forward for Frosted, who appears to be learning his lessons and progressing well toward the classics. He lurked near the rear of the field in the Wood, then made a determined run through the stretch that could be an important factor for negotiating the Derby trip.

Out of the Deputy Minister mare Fast Cookie, Frosted is part of an extended legacy because his dam was one of the mares that Darley purchased several years ago when acquiring the Stonerside operation in a deal that included its land, bloodstock, and racehorses. One of the latter was Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Midshipman, now a stallion for Darley at Jonabell.

A G2 stakes winner, Fast Cookie won the Cotillion at 3 and placed in other graded events, earning more than a half-million. Her dam, the Avenue of Flags (Seattle Slew) mare Fleet Lady, won the G2 El Encino and La Canada early in her 4-year-old season, and this is clearly a family with its fair share of speed and class.

Nor is the legacy of speed uncommon among the stock being prepped for the classics. All these classic prospects come from fast families, and it is guaranteed that some will find the distance of the Derby more of a challenge that they are prepared for at this point.

But one will rise to the occasion, and only he will wear the roses.

the factor and hansen: contemporaries continue competition as sires

Tags

hansen, sires of stallions, Tapit, the factor, war front

Two competitors on the track, Hansen and The Factor, also have first-crop foals offered for sale at Keeneland November. The pair share some common traits, including a high turn of speed. Both are also gray, but more importantly, they are by two of the most important sires in America: Tapit and War Front.

True dominance in a sire attracts a host of breeders hoping to use him, but most of them cannot get a season, even in today’s exaggerated books. That reality pushes their interest toward the sons of highly favored stallions and makes those sons a stronger proposition for farms to stand.

In each stallion’s first season at stud in 2013, Hansen covered 147 mares who produced 102 foals, and The Factor covered 135 mares who produced 102 foals. In 2014, The Factor covered 151 mares as his second book, but we do not know the number of mares sent to Hansen because he was no longer available in Kentucky.

Both young sires had first-crop weanlings available in Book 1 at Keeneland November – but only a few — as well as a few at Fasig-Tipton. Hansen has two in Book 1, where The Factor has a trio.

Hansen was the first champion son of leading sire Tapit, winning the Eclipse Award as the top juvenile colt in 2011 after a game victory over Union Rags in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Acquired by Coolmore and retired to stud at Ashford in Kentucky, Hansen served only one season in the Bluegrass before he was sold to the Korean Racing Authority as a stallion for their breeding program.

As a result, the Hansen foals are a bit like collector’s items because we won’t be seeing any more after this crop.

The Hansen filly out of Allencat (by Storm Cat), Hip 26, is a half-sister to a pair of stakes horses, and Hip 182 is also a filly, a March 2 foal out of the Vicar mare R Lady Joy. The latter was a classy racehorse, winning the G2 Delaware Oaks and finishing third in the G1 Alabama.

Among Hansen’s appeals to breeders were his early maturity and status as a champion son of a leading sire who is very hard to get to. Likewise, The Factor is by one of the hottest international sires in War Front, and the latter is probably the hardest stallion in the world in which to acquire a season

The Factor’s three hips in Book 1 are also all fillies: Hips 269, 374, and 398. The first is a March 8 foal out of the End Sweep mare Charismatic Lady, and this filly is a half-sister to stakes winner Dad’s Crazy (Langfuhr), winner of the Miss Grillo Stakes at Belmont. Hip 374 is out of stakes-placed Pastel Gal (Lemon Drop Kid), and Hip 398 is out of G2 winner Sayedah (Darshaan).

There were further foals by both stallions in later books, and the summary statistics for their first foal sales are below.

Hansen: indicating number through ring, sold, RNA, average, median, gross

Weanling

20

16

4

$45,438

$46,000

$727,000

KEENOV2014 Hip: 26 Weanling	Hansencat f., 2014	Hansen-Allencat, by Storm Cat	Valparaiso Enterprises	Pope McLean	$90,000	Sold
KEENOV2014 Hip: 182 Weanling	R Lady Hansen f., 2014	Hansen-R Lady Joy, by Vicar		Pope McLean	($140,000)	RNA
KEENOV2014 Hip: 581 Weanling	UNNAMED c., 2014	Hansen-Dixie Stamp, by Dixie Union		Pope McLean	($55,000)	RNA
KEENOV2014 Hip: 737 Weanling	UNNAMED f., 2014	Hansen-Movie Star Magic, by The Cliff’s Edge	Bobby Flay	Pope McLean	$65,000	Sold
KEENOV2014 Hip: 781 Weanling	Prince Hansen c., 2014	Hansen-Quickandquietqueen, by Quiet American	Walnut Hill Bloodstock	Pope McLean	$85,000	Sold
KEENOV2014 Hip: 1634 Weanling	UNNAMED c., 2014	Hansen-S D P Greedisgood, by Gone West	Amy Boulton	Pope McLean	$65,000	Sold
KEENOV2014 Hip: 1744 Weanling	UNNAMED c., 2014	Hansen-Annie Goodtime, by Honour and Glory	Michelle Redding	Eaton Sales	$50,000	Sold
KEENOV2014 Hip: 2250 Weanling	UNNAMED f., 2014	Hansen-Elusive Royalty, by Elusive Quality	J and R Bloodstock	Select Sales	$12,000	Sold
KEENOV2014 Hip: 2334 Weanling	UNNAMED c., 2014	Hansen-La Riviera, by Affirmed	Dr. Kendall Hansen Racing	Millennium Farms	$20,000	Sold
KEENOV2014 Hip: 2365 Weanling	UNNAMED f., 2014	Hansen-Missing Miss, by Unaccounted For	Turnley Farms LA	Lane’s End	$25,000	Sold
KEENOV2014 Hip: 2412 Weanling	UNNAMED f., 2014	Hansen-Que Bonita, by Meadowlake	Dr. Kendall Hansen Racing	Lane’s End	$45,000	Sold
KEENOV2014 Hip: 2454 Weanling	UNNAMED c., 2014	Hansen-Slewville, by Petionville	Jim Perrone	Pope McLean	$47,000	Sold
KEENOV2014 Hip: 2924 Weanling	UNNAMED c., 2014	Hansen-Turf Club, by Trust N Luck		Select Sales	($22,000)	RNA
KEENOV2014 Hip: 2952 Weanling	Air Hansen c., 2014	Hansen-Airizon, by Boston Harbor	Dr. Kendall Hansen Racing	Taylor Made Sales Agency	$75,000	Sold
KEENOV2014 Hip: 3036 Weanling	UNNAMED c., 2014	Hansen-Diamond Donna, by Silver Deputy	Polo Green Stable & David Lashley	Select Sales	$5,000	Sold
KEENOV2014 Hip: 3051 Weanling	UNNAMED f., 2014	Hansen-Enticing, by Service Stripe	Academy Bloodstock	Pope McLean	$16,000	Sold
KEENOV2014 Hip: 3179 Weanling	UNNAMED c., 2014	Hansen-Nault, by Woodman		Pope McLean	($9,000)	RNA
KEENOV2014 Hip: 3603 Weanling	UNNAMED f., 2014	Hansen-Primetime Cat, by Tale of the Cat	Bill & Corinne Heiligbrodt	Equus Farm	$37,000	Sold
FTKNOV2014 Hip: 36 Weanling	UNNAMED c., 2014	Hansen-Palomanegra, by Grand Slam	Wild Card Bloodstock	Pope McLean	$75,000	Sold
OBSOCT2014 Hip: 99 Weanling	UNNAMED c., 2014	Hansen-Havelsee, by Tiznow	Blue River Bloodstock	Kaizen Sales	$15,000	Sold

The Factor: indicating number through ring, sold, RNA, average, median, gross

Weanling

26

20

6

$87,150

$77,500

$1,743,000

KEENOV2014 Hip: 269 Weanling	UNNAMED f., 2014	The Factor-Charismatic Lady, by End Sweep	Fairwinter Farm	William B. Harrigan	$130,000	Sold
KEENOV2014 Hip: 374 Weanling	UNNAMED f., 2014	The Factor-Pastel Gal, by Lemon Drop Kid		Warrendale Sales	($140,000)	RNA
KEENOV2014 Hip: 503 Weanling	UNNAMED c., 2014	The Factor-Ba Ba’s Bunch, by El Corredor	Nick de Meric	Select Sales	$130,000	Sold
KEENOV2014 Hip: 509 Weanling	UNNAMED c., 2014	The Factor-Bet On the Blue, by E Dubai	The Blind Tiger	Taylor Made Sales Agency	$70,000	Sold
KEENOV2014 Hip: 521 Weanling	UNNAMED c., 2014	The Factor-Broadway Lullaby, by Songandaprayer	JSM Equine	St George Sales	$85,000	Sold
KEENOV2014 Hip: 617 Weanling	UNNAMED c., 2014	The Factor-Gowestforgold, by Java Gold		Pope McLean	($65,000)	RNA
KEENOV2014 Hip: 669 Weanling	UNNAMED c., 2014	The Factor-Jive Talk, by Kingmambo	Mayor Farm	Hunter Valley Farm	$27,000	Sold
KEENOV2014 Hip: 699 Weanling	UNNAMED c., 2014	The Factor-Lucky Slevin, by Two Punch	Nick de Meric	Pope McLean	$110,000	Sold
KEENOV2014 Hip: 802 Weanling	UNNAMED c., 2014	The Factor-Salvar, by Eddington	Springhouse Farm	Lane’s End	$115,000	Sold
KEENOV2014 Hip: 808 Weanling	UNNAMED f., 2014	The Factor-Seeking Silence, by Seeking the Gold	Bare Stables	Hunter Valley Farm	$67,000	Sold
KEENOV2014 Hip: 923 Weanling	UNNAMED f., 2014	The Factor-At Risk, by Dixie Union	Third Street Stable	Clarkland Farm	$65,000	Sold
KEENOV2014 Hip: 1027 Weanling	UNNAMED c., 2014	The Factor-Fun Given, by Point Given		Paramount Sales	($30,000)	RNA
KEENOV2014 Hip: 1162 Weanling	UNNAMED c., 2014	The Factor-Once Around, by You and I	Cedar Hall Farm	Warrendale Sales	$200,000	Sold
KEENOV2014 Hip: 1186 Weanling	UNNAMED f., 2014	The Factor-Prevention, by Aptitude	Preston Stables	Paramount Sales	$90,000	Sold
KEENOV2014 Hip: 1390 Weanling	UNNAMED f., 2014	The Factor-Dana Dew, by Fusaichi Pegasus	Blandford Stud	Lisa & Tim Turney	$45,000	Sold
KEENOV2014 Hip: 1448 Weanling	UNNAMED f., 2014	The Factor-Friona, by Allen’s Prospect	Walter Bloodstock	Lane’s End	$75,000	Sold
KEENOV2014 Hip: 1529 Weanling	Smokin Hot Factor c., 2014	The Factor-Love Me Twice, by Not For Love		Sally Thomas	($57,000)	RNA
KEENOV2014 Hip: 1560 Weanling	UNNAMED f., 2014	The Factor-Motel Lass, by Bates Motel	Baccari Bloodstock	Hunter Valley Farm	$70,000	Sold
KEENOV2014 Hip: 1694 Weanling	UNNAMED c., 2014	The Factor-Trippi Street, by Trippi	Walter Bloodstock	Burleson Farms	$62,000	Sold
KEENOV2014 Hip: 1787 Weanling	UNNAMED c., 2014	The Factor-Cat Dance, by Forest Wildcat		Taylor Made Sales Agency	($95,000)	RNA
KEENOV2014 Hip: 1791 Weanling	UNNAMED c., 2014	The Factor-Cedar Run’s Emblem, by Our Emblem	Tim Hamlin	James B. Keogh	$80,000	Sold
KEENOV2014 Hip: 1897 Weanling	UNNAMED c., 2014	The Factor-I Am Iron Woman, by Any Given Saturday		Paramount Sales	($19,000)	RNA
KEENOV2014 Hip: 2175 Weanling	UNNAMED f., 2014	The Factor-Bertha Jo, by Banker’s Gold	Falguieres Bloodstock	Susan M. Forrester	$42,000	Sold
FTKNOV2014 Hip: 30 Weanling	UNNAMED f., 2014	The Factor-Mining My Business, by Mining	Stonereath Stud	Darby Dan Farm	$130,000	Sold
FTKNOV2014 Hip: 53 Weanling	UNNAMED f., 2014	The Factor-Super Cub, by Old Trieste	American Equistock	Romans Racing & Sales	$85,000	Sold
FTNMIX2014 Hip: 298 Weanling	UNNAMED f., 2014	The Factor-Divorce Settlement, by Stormin Fever	Palermo Farm	Sequel Stallions New York	$65,000	Sold

 

the commercial markets are indicating that the prospects for tapit to breed on are strong

Tags

gainesway, stallion selection, Tapit

One of the strong currents swirling within the sales in Kentucky this month is the selection and assessment of future stars. Those peak performers are found not only in the sessions at Fasig-Tipton’s one-day auction or in Book 1 of Keeneland’s November sale, which runs through six books — good horses are found throughout the sales, at all price levels, with premium pedigrees and without.

Good horsemen and lucky ones alike come upon jewels on four legs, but one of the great interests for those of us observing the sales and participating in them is watching how the market responds to particular sires and sire lines.

These go in and out of fashion for a reason. Performance on the racetrack is the underlying truth behind the success of a particular sire, and the consistent ability shown by the progeny of certain lines at the track pushes them to the top of list in demand at the sales.

There is no secret that Tapit (by Pulpit) is the hottest sire in the country. He’s the leading North American sire by gross progeny earnings, the sire of the top 3-year-old filly Untapable, and heir to the quality of the A.P. Indy/Seattle Slew/Bold Ruler line with performers like Belmont Stakes winner Tonalist and the versatile graded winner Ring Weekend.

Nobody knew that in 2006, when the first foals by Tapit came to the sales in November, but they made believers of many observant horsemen. Although no more than medium-sized youngsters, the first foals by Tapit were muscular and well-balanced, showed themselves nicely at a walk, and they had a ton of presence.

Overall, 18 weanlings by Tapit sold in 2006 for an average of $108,692 and for a median price of $87,000. Those were manly figures for a young sire who stood initially for $15,000. Among them were eventual graded stakes winner Hightap, graded stakes-placed Selective, stakes winner Endymion, and a couple more who earned six figures without getting black type.

The weanlings sold quite well for the progeny of a young and relatively unheralded sire. The market’s reception of the horse was encouraging because Tapit, at the time, was not a household name, and his greatest success had come in the Grade 1 Wood Memorial two and a half years before the 2006 November sale.

The 2006 foal buyers were right, and we had seen the first stock by a serious sire. Such a fair-minded assessment of a stallion’s first foals is important because, if well and legitimately received, the positive response will help to keep mares coming to a young horse in the third and fourth years of his start at stud.

Those are the hardest years for a stallion manager to fill a young sire’s book, and highly promising weanlings give breeders a peek into the future potential of a young stallion.

It is not surprising that two first-crop sons of Tapit have received some positive attention from buyers at the sales over the past week. In addition to their sire, Hansen and Tapizar also won Breeders’ Cup races (the Juvenile and the Dirt Mile, respectively).

Although his foals’ commercial appeal was dampened by the horse’s sale to Korea a year ago, Hansen’s first crop include seven sales foals who have sold for an average of $63,571 and for a median price of $65,000. These are among the only American foals by the juvenile champion, and they have been dispersed into the hands of good horsemen.

So far, Tapizar has had a dozen of his youngsters offered, and to date, his average and median figures are practically equal at $91,000. The high prices rose to $180,000 and $190,000 for nicely shaped and progressive young athletes.

The test case for the Tapit sons is Trappe Shot because his first foals are yearlings and will race next year. Trappe Shot’s second-crop weanlings found a good reception, with nine selling for an average of $59,722, with a median of $35,000. The leading lot by Trappe Shot at the November sale also was the high-priced lot at the Keeneland November sixth session on Sunday. The colt out of Irish Lullaby brought $200,000 from Baccari Bloodstock and sold out of the Four Star consignment for Glencrest Farm.

For these good prospects and all the others, the possibility seen at the sales will be tested at the racetrack, and we will be able to find out which horses are breeding on by siring significant athletes. We fans of the sport can watch it all develop, and oh, what fun it is!

*The preceding article was first posted at Paulick Report earlier this week.

pulpit left an impression on the breed and on all who knew him

Tags

claiborne, monarchy, princequillo, Pulpit, round table, Tapit

Twenty years ago at Claiborne Farm in Bourbon County, Kentucky, a muscular bay colt who had been foaled earlier that year was bounding and prancing across the rolling pastures of a farm known around to the world to breeders and racing fans.

Now, that colt is known ’round the world as well. His name was Pulpit, and he was from the first crop by the 1992 Horse of the Year, A.P. Indy.

The colt also was the first foal of a highly regarded young mare by Mr. Prospector out of one of Claiborne’s finest families, going back through major producers to Round Table’s full sister Monarchy (by Princequillo). Their dam was the English-bred mare Knight’s Daughter, whom A.B. “Bull” Hancock had imported to Kentucky in the 1950s.

Claiborne sold Round Table part-way through his juvenile season at the track, though retaining a quarter-interest in him as a stallion, and watched with pride as the iron-legged bay became the 1958 Horse of the Year and leading money earner. Hancock kept Monarchy, who won the Arlington Lassie, and bred some important stock from her.

She foaled a stakes winner by Bold Ruler named Title and another by Le Fabuleux named Fabled Monarch, but Monarchy’s most important foal was the winning Nijinsky mare, State. She produced five stakes winners, including Region (Devil’s Bag), Announce (Forty Niner), Double Feint (Spectacular Bid), and Narrate (Honest Pleasure).

State could have gotten a stakes winner by a burro, and she did considerably better with class racehorses like those above. Of her stakes winners, Narrate brings our story another step forward because she is the dam of Preach, a G1 winner of the Frizette Stakes at 2, when she also ran third in the Spinaway.

Perhaps it was the Nijinsky influence from her dam or perhaps it was just her, but Preach was what the English would call “full of character.” It was foolish to take her lightly, and she imparted some of that heat and indomitable attitude to her foals.

Of them all, Pulpit was the first and the best.

Unraced at 2, Pulpit came to hand readily at 3, rising through the ranks from maiden to graded stakes winner in Florida with a sharp score in the Fountain of Youth. Second to Captain Bodgit in the G1 Florida Derby, Pulpit shipped north with the migrating birds to race at Keeneland, and he gave Claiborne Farm a victory in the Blue Grass Stakes, which was his prep for the 1997 Kentucky Derby.

In the Kentucky Derby, Pulpit showed high courage and ability, leading at the half-mile and three-quarters and still battling head and head with Free House at the mile pole. At the wire, however, Pulpit finished fourth behind Silver Charm, Captain Bodgit, and Free House. That trio of racehorses each earned more than $1 million, but the Derby was Pulpit’s last race. A knee fracture put the talented bay on the sidelines, then eventually sent him into retirement at Claiborne, where he spent the rest of his life.

As a sire, Pulpit outshone all his contemporaries, and he was the first indicator of the impact that A.P. Indy would come to have as a sire not just of racehorses but also of breeding stock. Pulpit sired G1 winner Essence of Dubai as a member of his freshman crop and never looked back.

From 75 stakes winners to date, Pulpit has 45 graded stakes winners, and as that latter figure suggests, quality and class are hallmarks of the Pulpit stock. They also have speed, and Pulpit’s branch of the A.P. Indy line is notable for that important asset. From the sire’s third crop came Tapit, an undefeated 2-year-old who progressed to win the G1 Wood Memorial at 3. As a sire, Tapit has been his sire’s most notable contribution to the breed because Tapit is even better than Pulpit.

Other sire sons of Pulpit include Hopeful Stakes winner Sky Mesa, who has sired 33 stakes winners; the consistent value sire Stroll, a G1 winner; graded winner Sightseeing, who sired a Spinaway Stakes winner before his unfortunate death; and Lucky Pulpit, whose son California Chrome won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness this year.

As a sire, Pulpit has contributed soundness and a high degree of competitiveness to the succeeding generation. From current statistics supplied by Equineline, Pulpit has 79 percent starters from foals and 56 percent winners. Both of those figures far exceed the pars for the breed, and Pulpit’s average winning distance for his progeny is nearly a mile at 7.7 furlongs.

Statistics give black and white indications of what we lost when Pulpit died, but the horse has left us reminders of his excellence, including a top 3-year-old in the Phipps stable named Mr Speaker, who is Pulpit’s leading runner of this crop.

In addition, Pulpit has 58 foals among the current 2-year-olds, but there are only 26 yearlings in the stallion’s last crop. Of those, 11 are consigned as part of Book 1 at the Keeneland September sale.

From horses like Pulpit, hopes and dreams are made, and perhaps one of these last will set another story in motion that we will enjoy 20 years from now.

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