An overflow field that includes 2022 stakes-winners Kitodan and Play Action Pass was entered for the $500,000 Tapit Stakes Aug. 31, the opening-day feature of the seven-day meet at Kentucky Downs.
The all-grass meet runs Aug. 31 and Sept. 2, 3, 7, 9, 10, and 13 over America's only European-style course.
Post time for the first of 10 races is 12:30 p.m. CT, with the Tapit carded as the ninth (approximate post 4:54 p.m.). The Tapit, at a mile and 70 yards, is for 3-year-olds and up that have not won a stakes in 2023. The purse includes $250,000 in Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund supplements for registered Kentucky-breds. All but two of the Tapit entrants are KTDF eligible.
Kitodan is racing for only the second time since he won last year's Dueling Grounds Derby (G3T) over this course by four lengths. Combined with winning Churchill Downs' Audubon Stakes and Turfway Park's Rushaway Stakes, the $80,000 claim was voted the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association's Claiming Horse of the Year. Off an 11-month layoff, Kitodan tired to finish 10th in the 1 1/4-mile Kentucky Downs Preview Turf Cup at Ellis Park. That redirected Kitodan from the Sept. 9 Kentucky Turf Cup (G2T) at 1 1/2 miles to the Tapit.
"We said going into the race that he should be better the next time he ran," said trainer and co-owner Eric Foster. "How many times can you run for that much money and have a condition attached to it? Non-winners of a sweepstakes this year, it seemed like it was a really good race for us."
Francisco Arrieta has the return mount.
"Everything we wanted to do between the races, as far as our training, it just really worked out really well," said Foster, who is based at Ellis Park and has a farm with a training track in Utica, Ky., near Owensboro. "He worked good Thursday, he's looking good. I kind of feel like he's got a good set-up."
August Dawn Farm's Play Action Pass is seeking his first victory in six starts since taking last year's inaugural Gun Runner Stakes for 3-year-olds at a mile.
Kitodan and Play Action Pass are among a full field of 12 horses expected to run in the Tapit.
Speaking Scout, seventh in last year's Dueling Grounds Derby, ended last year with a victory in Del Mar's Hollywood Derby (G1T). He started his 2023 season with a third-place effort in the Pegasus World Cup Turf (G1T). Trainer Graham Motion also entered English Bee, most recently third in the Kelso Stakes (G3T) at Saratoga, in the Tapit.
California trainers are well-represented, with George Papaprodromou starting Flavius, the latter won the Lure Stakes at Saratoga and finished fifth in the Kentucky Downs' 2021 Mint Million when trained by Chad Brown before being sold later that fall at auction. Jose Valdivia comes in from Del Mar to ride Flavius.
Another Papaprodromou trainee, Cabo Spirit, was scratched from the body of the race, allowing also eligible Tiberius Mercurius to draw into the field. The race's three other also eligibles were scratched.
Peter Miller has Yes This Time in the Tapit right after a $80,000 claim at Del Mar, in which he rallied from far back to take second.
Brown entered Portfolio Company, a two-time allowance winner at Belmont before finishing third in Saratoga's restricted Lure Stakes.
Joel Rosario, whose 17 victories in 2021 set a Kentucky Downs record, comes in from Saratoga to ride.
Besides Rosario, Hall of Famer John Velazquez will leave Saratoga for the day to ride at Kentucky Downs. Two-time meet champion Tyler Gaffalione will give up three days of Saratoga's closing week to ride at at the Franklin, Ky., track. Gaffalione has been named to ride all 10 races.
A total of 134 horses made the overnight, including 22 on the also-eligible list. Six of the 10 races attracted at least 12 entries, with two more races having 11 apiece and two with nine.
The pair of $250,000 allowance races for graduates of last year's Keeneland September Yearling Sale drew competitive fields, with 12 horses and two also-eligibles in the Fillies division, carded as the second race, and 11 in the colts and geldings division, which goes off as the sixth race.
On a betting front, takeout rates are 1% higher across pools this year, a move that has disappointed some horseplayers. The track's overall takeout rate remains lower than other leading tracks in Kentucky.
This press release has been edited for content and style by BloodHorse Staff.
