Tag: Bloodlines

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.

The post Bloodlines Presented By Mill Ridge Farm: Tapit Trice The Tip Of The Iceberg For Whisper Hill’s Classic Prospects appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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You could say it was a Hill 'n' Dale Weekend. Not only did the farm's stallion Violence (by Medaglia d'Oro) have two graded stakes winners in classic preps, but John Sikura's operation also is co-breeder of Slip Mahoney (Arrogate), who was a good-looking second in the Grade 3 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct behind the Violence colt Raise Cain.

The Gotham winner was unexpected, starting at 23-1 odds, but the star turn on a very positive set of results for Violence was last season's champion juvenile colt Forte, who was odds-on at 1-2 for his seasonal debut in the G2 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream.

The handsome dark bay or brown looked full value for those odds as he sat handily behind the pace, swooped four wide on the turn, and left his rivals with no recourse as he ran on through the stretch to win by 4 ½ lengths from Holy Bull Stakes winner Rocket Can and Cyclone Mischief (both by Into Mischief).

Bred in Kentucky by South Gate Farm, Forte was sold as a weanling for $80,000 at the 2020 Keeneland November sale and then resold as a yearling at Keeneland's 2021 September sale for $110,000 to Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable.

The striking colt is the first foal of his dam, the multiple stakes winner Queen Caroline (Blame), and this is a family that was developed over generations while in the Frances Genter family stable. This is the immediate female family of champions Essential Quality (Tapit) and Folklore (Tiznow).

A colt of considerable elegance, Forte comes from one of the most distinguished female families in the Stud Book, that of La Troienne (Teddy), who was bred in France by Marcel Boussac and imported as a broodmare carrying her first foal by Col. E. R. Bradley. The mare proved a success beyond the scope of that word in ordinary usage.

La Troienne produced five stakes winners, including the exceptional filly Black Helen and the champion and classic winner Bimelech (both by Black Toney). The distribution of Bradley's bloodstock came with the purchase of all of the Bradley broodmares and foals by Robert J. Kleberg (King Ranch), John Hay Whitney (Greentree Stud), and Ogden Phipps.

Phipps got La Troienne's daughter Baby League, the dam of Horse of the Year Busher, and for Phipps, Baby League produced Striking (War Admiral), winner of the 1949 Schuylerville and Broodmare of the Year in 1961. Her branch of this family produced Forte.

La Troienne herself went to Greentree, and she is buried in their equine graveyard, which is now part of Gainesway Farm. Bimelech likewise went to stand at Greentree, and other parts of the mare's legacy were distributed among the purchasers and went on to play significant roles in racing's continuing story.

Although La Troienne did not win, she was highly tested against high-class fillies. A winner of the Oaks in 1904, however, is the ancestress of this year's Gotham Stakes winner. A racer of exceptional character who found lasting admiration among the racing public, Pretty Polly (Gallinule) won 22 of her 24 starts and is generally regarded as one of the greatest racers ever.

This chestnut paragon is the female-line ancestor of Raise Cain. The Gotham winner is out of the Lemon Drop Kid mare Lemon Belle, who is a half-sister to Breeders' Cup Distaff winner Unrivaled Belle (Unbridled's Song), the dam of champion Unique Bella (Tapit).

Raise Cain is the first stakes winner of his dam, and she has a 2-year-old colt by Frosted (Tapit) and a colt at side by Constitution (Tapit) who was foaled last month.

Bred in Kentucky by Rock Ridge Thoroughbreds LLC, Raise Cain sold for $180,000 by Andrew Warren at Keeneland's September yearling sale two years ago; returned to auction at the OBS June sale last year, Raise Cain was bought back at $65,000 and races for Andrew Warren and Rania Warren.

Should both of these colts make the rest of the journey to Louisville for the Run for the Roses, they will not lack for classic connections in their ancestral lines.

The post Bloodlines Presented By Mill Ridge Farm: Hill ‘n’ Dale’s Big Derby Prep Weekend Goes Back Generations appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The highweighted miler in his homeland of Argentina and unbeaten in three starts, including the Grade 1 Pacific Classic, in the U.S., Candy Ride (by Ride the Trails) has proven himself a source of speed that carries at least a mile, as well as a fountain of quality and racing enthusiasm.

With more than 100 stakes winners to his credit so far, Candy Ride had another pair in the winner's circle on Feb. 25, with the promising and progressive Confidence Man in the G2 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., and the lightly raced 5-year-old Candy Man Rocket in the listed Gulfstream Park Sprint.

A G3 winner of the Sam F. Davis Stakes as a 3-year-old, Candy Man Rocket was a prospect for whom great things were expected and high hopes were held. As a 2-year-old in training, the good-sized bright bay worked a quarter-mile in :21, striding out as well as any horse on the grounds at the OBS April sale. He was fluent and strong in action, with a stride length of more than 26.5 feet and a massive BreezeFig of 73.

He had all the bells and whistles.

Selling out of the Seven K's Training and Sales consignment of Scott Kintz and family, Candy Man Rocket was popular with buyers and their inspectors, and he sold for $250,000, with Donato Lanni purchasing the colt for Frank Fletcher.

Kintz said, “Donato loved this colt, had seen him early at the farm, and was there to buy him. That sale got amazingly strong as it went on, and Donato came by the last day of the auction and told me that Candy Man Rocket would have brought 500 or 600 thousand that last session.”

Bred in Kentucky by R.S. Evans, Candy Man Rocket was raised just outside Lexington on the Leestown Road property of Wayne and Cathy Sweezey's Timber Town Stables.

Sent to the sales as a weanling and a yearling, Candy Man Rocket was bought back each time, then went into training with Kintz in Florida and sold to Frank Fletcher Racing for $250,000 at the 2020 OBS April sale of juveniles in training.

“I'd had some horses for Mr. Evans,” Kintz recalled, “and after the colt had RNA'd at the September sale, he called me up and said he was going to send the colt to me. The colt had some x-ray issues as a yearling, and I asked Mr. Evans what he wanted me to do with him. He said, 'Train him,' and that colt never missed a day, never had an issue with anything. By the time he came to the sales as a 2-year-old, he'd outgrown the radiographic changes that had shown up earlier, and he was a top-notch horse.

“When Candy Man Rocket was training, he did everything right all the time; he went too fast the first time we let him run, and I wasn't too happy about it. But the jock said he didn't push him, that the colt just took off. He was that fast.”

The elegant colt made his debut at Churchill Downs in November and must have learned something, despite finishing well up the track. Returned to racing in January at Gulfstream, Candy Man Rocket won by 9 ¼ lengths, then picked up the Sam Davis in his next start. Immediately considered a classic prospect, the colt went off the rails in his next pair of starts, missed nearly his entire 4-year-old season.

Clearly, the talented horse has posed some challenges for trainer Bill Mott, but the conditioner has proven equal to them, and Candy Man Rocket has too. The horse has won his two starts since his long layoff, most recently the Gulfstream Park Sprint, and Mott indicated that he would give the horse a break of several weeks before his next race.

The post Bloodlines Presented By Mill Ridge Farm: Candy Man Rocket’s Comeback Keeps It Sweet For Sire Candy Ride appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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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.

The post Bloodlines Presented By Mill Ridge Farm: Tapit Continues Conquering New Frontiers As A Broodmare Sire appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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