Pletcher Looks To Travers For Former Classics Starter Tapit Trice

Gainesway Stable and Whisper Hill Farm's Tapit Trice will target the $1.25-million Travers on August 26 at Saratoga, trainer Todd Pletcher said.

Tapit Trice was a last-out fifth in the TVG.com Haskell (G1) on July 22 at Monmouth Park. The gray Tapit colt raced off the pace and lacked a crucial late kick, finishing 8 3/4 lengths behind the victorious Geaux Rocket Ride.

A 2023 alumnus of the Triple Crown trail, Tapit Trice was third in the Belmont Stakes (G1) five weeks following a distant seventh in the Kentucky Derby (G1). Over the spring, he captured the Tampa Bay Derby (G2) and Blue Grass (G1) at Keeneland.

“Everything went wrong,” Pletcher said of his Haskell effort. “He didn't get away well. He got bottled up behind horses in a lot of traffic. It was very similar to the Derby. He was in an impossible spot to run from, especially on a track like that.”

Bred in Kentucky by Gainesway Thoroughbreds, Tapit Trice is out of the multiple graded stakes-placed mare Danzatrice, whose Pletcher-trained sire, Dunkirk, finished second in the 2009 Belmont Stakes. He was bought by Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill for $1.3 million at the 2021 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

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WATCH: High-Class Hukum Prevails In ‘Win & You’re In’ King George VI & QEII Thriller

Shadwell Estate Co's homebred Hukum, a 6-year-old full brother to brilliant miler Baaeed, prevailed in an epic stretch battle with younger rival Westover in a stirring edition of the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II QIPCO Stakes (G1) Saturday at Ascot.

The pair powered away from  3-year-old King Of Steel in the final furlong and furiously battled to the finish, with Hukum prevailing in a monumental effort for Jim Crowley, scoring by a nose outside of 4-year-old Westover. King Of Steel was 4 1/2 lengths back in third. Epsom Derby (G1)/Irish Derby (G1) winner Auguste Rodin, racing in last place, faltered nearing the home turn and was eased before finishing last as the 9-4 favorite in the 10-horse field.

Time for the 1 1/2 miles was 2:33.95 on turf rated as good to soft.

With the win, Hukum earned a guaranteed start in the $4-million Longines Breeders' Cup Turf (G1) in November at Santa Anita via the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In.

Hukum's victory came on the heels of his impressive comeback in May when he defeated last years' Epsom Derby winner Desert Crown the Brigadier Gerard (G3) at Sandown. He had been sidelined for 356 days after winning the Coronation Cup (G2) in  June 2022 at Epsom when the Owen Burrows-trained Sea The Stars horse sustained a potentially career-ending hind-leg fracture.

“I've always believed in him and even last year I said to Owen this could be a King George horse –he's out of his brother's shadow now,” Crowley told  ITV immediately after the race.

“It's a great training performance by Owen because he was off a year, and in fairness to (Shadwell owner) Sheikha Hissa she persisted with him to bring him back into training.

“It would've been very easy to retire him as a full brother to Baaeed. She had faith and it's great, that was something special.

“Westover got first run at me, but it gave me something to aim at. He was so tough, I never felt he was going to come off second best there.”

In a demonstration of heart and consistency, Hukum took his career line to 11-1-2 from 17 starts.

Bred in Ireland Hukum was produced by the stakes-winning Kingmambo mare Aghareed, a descendant of the late Sheikh Hamdan's blue hen mare Height Of Fashion. Full brother Baaeed, a six-time Group 1 winner who closed his racing career last year as the world's top-rated turf horse and the second-highest-rated horse in the world after achieving a mark of 135, stood his first season this at Shadwell's Nunnery Stud.

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D’Amato Sending Out Quartet In Sunday’s Eddie Read; Mandatory Payout In Pick 6

The 50th running of the Grade 2 Eddie Read Stakes will take place at Del Mar Sunday, going as Race 9 on an 11-race card. The day also will offer a “mandatory” Pick Six pool payout that easily could rise into the millions.

Eddie Read was Del Mar's very first publicist going back to the track's opening in 1937. He was a mainstay at the track for more than three decades and this race was named in his honor after his passing with the first running going off in 1974.

This year's renewal of the nine-furlong turf headliner has drawn nine older horses and the one to beat in the bunch might be the oldest of the bunch – the 8-year-old veteran Count Again, who comes into the $250,000 offering off a 2 1/4-length tally in the G1 Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita on May 30 – though that was 14 months ago. The old pro by Awesome Again became a millionaire that day ($1,069,915) in registering his seventh victory, all on the green. He is owned by Agave Racing Stable or Sam-Son Farm and has been training forwardly for this comeback.

Del Mar's morning line maker Jon White was impressed enough with his prior record and current training to make him the 3-1 favorite in the headliner.

Umberto Rispoli picks up the mount on the bay for trainer Phil D'Amato and will break from the outside gate for the run down the infield chute on Sunday.

The chief threats to the top one appear to reside on the shedrows near him in the D'Amato barn. The conditioner also will saddle Little Red Feather and Sterling Stable's Gold Phoenix, Little Red Feather and Madaket Stable's Balnikhov and Rockingham Ranch's Masteroffoxhounds.

Here's the full field for the headliner from the rail out with riders and morning line odds:

– Auyeung, Crosby or Hauck, et al's I'mgonnabesomebody (Kyle Frey, 20-1)

-Gold Phoenix (Hector Berrios, 4-1)

-Balnikhov (Antonio Fresu, 4-1)

-Masteroffoxhounds (Edwin Maldonado, 8-1)

-Red Baron's Barn or Rancho Temescal's Dicey Mo Chara (Juan Hernandez, 6-1)

-Kretz Racing's Cabo Spirit (Joe Bravo, 5-1)

-CYBT, Lantzman or Nentwig, et al's Handy Dandy (Ramon Vazquez, 12-1)

-ERJ Racing, Madaket Stables, et al's Mackinnon (Tiago Pereira, 8-1)

-Count Again.

The Read will have a post time of approximately 6 p.m. PT.vFirst post for the afternoon will be 2 p.m.

Sunday will also be a “mandatory” payout day for the track's popular Pick 6 bet, meaning there will be no carryovers and all monies in the pool will be paid out no matter the number of winners. There is a potential that the pot for the wager could rise to the $2.5 to $3 million range. The Pick 6 is conducted on the final six races on the card, in this case Races 6 through 11.

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