Given that he is an exceptional source of classic stamina, with no less than four Belmont Stakes (G1) winners to his name, it's surprising that the offspring of Tapit have made relatively little impact in the first two legs of the Triple Crown.
In fact only two of his offspring—Essential Quality, who did endure a dreadful trip in his attempt, and Tacitus —have made the first three in the Kentucky Derby (G1), both finishing third (Tapit has also had two fourths via Frosted and Mohaymen), and he's never had a runner place in the Preakness Stakes (G1). One might consider later maturity to be an explanation, but that would overlook that two of his sons, Essential Quality and Hansen, have earned honors as champion 2-Year-Old Colt.
This term the 22-year-old stallion is back on the Triple Crown trail with Tapit Trice and the recent John Battaglia Memorial Stakes victor, Congruent. Tapit Trice, now the Kentucky Derby second favorite, has been the horse about which there has been considerable hype, but for much of the March 11 Tampa Bay Derby (G3), the bubble looked as if it were going to burst. At the off, the gray virtually walked out of the gate—his fourth poor start in four outings—which left him in 11th and last position. From there he did make headway down the backstretch, but lost a little ground again while five wide on the turn, arriving at the head of the stretch in eighth, more than four lengths off the lead, and having been pushed along from some way out.
The Tampa Bay Derby was the third consecutive win for Tapit Trice following a third on his debut. He took his maiden over a mile at Aqueduct Racetrack in December, then added a Gulfstream Park allowance optional claiming event in early February, which he took by eight lengths.
While Tapit has been one of the most reliable sources of distance runners on dirt in his era, there is also stamina in the distaff side of Tapit Trice's pedigree. His dam, Danzatrice, is by Dunkirk, a son of Unbridled's Song who never won a black-type event but was second in both the Florida Derby (G1) and Belmont Stakes (G1).
Danzatrice herself was a more than useful performer, winning seven of 15 starts up to an extended mile, including the Iowa Distaff Stakes, Parx Oaks, and Tiffany Lass Stakes, and she also took third in the Groupie Doll Stakes (G3). By a son of Unbridled's Song out of the Orientate mare Lady Pewitt, Danzatrice is a three-quarter sister to champion 2-Year-Old Filly Jaywalk (by Cross Traffic ), successful in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1), Frizette Stakes (G1), and Delaware Oaks (G3).
Lady Pewitt's dam, Spin Room, never produced a black-type winner, but she is out of La Paz, a three-time stakes winner, and dam of four stakes winners, including Mission Impazible, a son of Unbridled's Song who took the Louisiana Derby (G2) and New Orleans Handicap (G2); the Del Mar Futurity (G2) winner Forest Camp; and Spanish Empire, successful in the Fifth Season Stakes (G3).
La Paz was sold at the 2000 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale in foal to Storm Cat for $1,600,000, which may well be a record for a horse bred in Arizona. Her dam, Classy Craft, was also bred in that state, and gained black type with a win in the Phoenix Futurity. She was a half sister to the dam of the very fast Zany Tactics, a multiple graded stakes-winning sprinter who set a North American record for six furlongs on turf, and an outright world record for six furlongs, when clocking 1:06 4/5 for that distance at Turf Paradise.
Classy Craft was out of Classy Stamp, herself half sister to the dam of Tempest Queen, the champion 3-Year-Old Filly of 1978. As that suggests, the female line had some classy Kentucky roots prior to its move west, and it goes back to the Frizette Stakes scorer Bimlette, a half sister to Be Faithful, a top-class racemare whose Kentucky Oaks-winning daughter Lalun produced Never Bend (sire of Mill Reef and Riverman) and Bold Reason (broodmare sire of Sadler's Wells).
One of five stakes winners—the others including champion Unique Bella—on a Tapit/Unbridled's Song cross, Tapit Trice owns an intriguing pedigree pattern. Tapit is by a son of A.P. Indy out of an Unbridled mare, where Tapit Trice's broodmare sire, Dunkirk, is by a son of Unbridled out of a mare by A.P. Indy. Oddly enough, a similar pattern is found in one of Tapit's two Kentucky Derby-placed horses, Tacitus, who is out of a mare by First Defence, who is by Unbridled's Song out of a mare by A.P. Indy's sire, Seattle Slew.
