There's little perennial leading stallion Tapit hasn't accomplished in the breeding shed. The 22-year-old son of Pulpit has three times led the North American sires list, has sired 33 seven-figure sale yearlings, and on top of his 29 grade/group 1 winners, last year the stallion etched his name in the history books for all of eternity when his son, 2022 Horse of the Year Flightline , set the racing world aflame with his exploits on the track.
However, the Kentucky Derby (G1) has eluded the Gainesway stallion. Tapit has sired four Classic winners in Creator, Tapwrit , Tonalist , and Essential Quality , all winners of the 1 1/2 mile Belmont Stakes (G1). Yet despite never siring a winner of the 1 1/4-mile Run for the Roses, the stallion's progeny have consistently shown up in the starting gate on the First Saturday in May. Tapit has had 13 Kentucky Derby starters, the most recent being Whisper Hill Farm's Charge It last year. Charge It, trained by Todd Pletcher, faded to 17th behind the victorious Rich Strike in what was only his fourth lifetime start.
This year, Tapit is on track to be represented again in the Kentucky Derby with one of the likely favorites in Blue Grass Stakes (G1) hero Tapit Trice. Similar to Charge It, Tapit Trice is another exquisitely-bred, handsome dapple gray colt conditioned by Todd Pletcher. He was purchased for the lavish sum of $1.3 million by Whisper Hill's Mandy Pope at the 2021 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Tapit Trice's breeder, Antony Beck of Gainesway Farm, stayed in as co-owner of the colt.
"(Tapit Trice is) absolutely outstanding," Beck said after the colt's gritty neck score over Verifying in the Blue Grass at Keeneland. "It's wonderful to be partners with Mandy (Pope). It's a great friendship. We both love, love horses; we both love the sport. Tapit has been an incredible stallion and this is another one of his incredible horses. I also want to thank John Fort (of Peachtree Stable), who selected Danzatrice (dam of Tapit Trice) for me as a 2-year-old. Without that, we wouldn't be here."
Tapit Trice is the second foal out of the Dunkirk mare Danzatrice, who Gainesway picked up for $105,000 as a 2-year-old at the 2014 Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. Spring Sale of Two-Year-Olds-in-Training. Danzatrice, a daughter of the Pletcher-trained Dunkirk, runner-up in the 2009 Belmont Stakes, proved a capable racehorse herself for Beck, winning seven of 15 career starts, including three black-type level stakes. All three of the mare's stakes victories came over the two-turn distance. Danzatrice's page received a considerable boost in 2018 when her younger half sister Jaywalk romped to glory in that year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) and was awarded the Eclipse Award for champion 2-year-old female.
From top to bottom, Tapit Trice embodies the pedigree of a horse bred to carry his speed a classic distance. The colt exhibited his potential stamina during the Blue Grass, when he traveled four- and then five-wide throughout the 1 1/8 mile race, likely running a 1 1/4-mile distance, and still powering to victory late.
"We never felt like distance was going to be an issue," Pletcher said. "We always felt like more distance would be good for him. We were happy to get him out to a mile-and-an-eighth today and we feel like a mile-and-a-quarter is going to be even better for him."
The Blue Grass followed a series of progressive-like wins for Tapit Trice beginning with a one-mile maiden special weight tally in late December at Aqueduct Racetrack. From there, the colt decimated an allowance field by eight lengths at Gulfstream Park, again racing at one mile, before stretching out to 1 1/16 miles in his stakes debut in the March 11 Tampa Bay Derby (G3). Tapit Trice didn't fail to impress, rolling home a two-length winner over the quirky Tampa Bay Downs surface.
Though four sons of Tapit—Tapit Trice, Congruent, Shopper's Revenge, and Tapit's Conquest—have competed on the points trail for the Run for the Roses, as of April 9 it appears that Tapit Trice may be the sire's sole representative in the starting gate on Derby Day. The colt currently boasts 150 points, placing him a solid fourth on the points rankings. A win by Tapit Trice under those legendary Twin Spires would certainly be the cherry on top of an already exceptional stud career for Tapit.
