Tip Top Thomas Captures Indiana Derby in Record Time

Out of action until this spring following a runner-up finish in last fall's Champagne Stakes (G1), Tip Top Thomas is making up for lost time. Racing July 5 at Horseshoe Indianapolis, he improved to 2-for-3 as a 3-year-old in gamely turning back graded stakes winner Coal Battle to win the $300,000 Indiana Derby (G3) in track record time. He zipped 1 1/16 miles on a fast-playing main track in 1:41.15, crossing the wire a half-length in front. He returned $7.40 to a $2 win wager. Tip Top Thomas scored despite battling for the early lead with longshot Master Controller through opening splits of :23.43 and :46.01. Shrugging that one off late on the backstretch, he was joined entering the second turn by Coal Battle and favored Big Truzz through six furlongs in 1:09.33, but neither could get past him at that stage or down the stretch. He maintained a narrow advantage to the wire. "I mean, he put up a really good fight. I love when the horses do that," said rider John Velazquez, who won three stakes races Saturday at Horseshoe Indianapolis. "They're running hard and they come to them, and you ask them for more, and they give you more and more." Brotha Keny, the highest-priced starter in the race at odds of 59-1, rallied to finish a close third, a half-length in front of Arkansas Derby (G1) runner-up Publisher in fourth. Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher trains Tip Top Thomas for owners Jim Bakke and Gerald Isbister, who previously raced millionaires Mr Freeze and Jack Christopher, either solely or in partnership with other owners. The Indiana Derby winner, who defeated eventual Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Sovereignty when they debuted together last summer at Saratoga Race Course, is 3-1-0 in five starts with earnings of $385,500. Pletcher called Saturday's race "a big effort," but said he would look to point Tip Top Thomas toward "another race similar to today." Bred by Wynnstay, Donna Moore, and Jim Richardson in Kentucky, Tip Top Thomas is the second stakes winner and third stakes horse produced from his dam, the Consolidator mare Attempt to Name. He was a $160,000 purchase from the Wynnstay consignment to the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearlings Sale. He becomes the second graded stakes-winning 3-year-old for second-crop sire Volatile this year after Speed King captured the Southwest Stakes (G3) over the winter. Volatile stood this year for $12,500 at Three Chimneys Farm in Kentucky. Clicquot Pops in Stakes Debut in Indiana Oaks Owners X-Men Racing, Madaket Stables, and SF Racing campaigned Moira, trained by Kevin Attard, to an Eclipse Award-winning season in 2024 as champion turf female before selling her for $4.3 million at Fasig-Tipton's The November Sale last fall. This year, the partners have reloaded the stable with another talented filly, this one a dirt horse—Clicquot, who took the $200,000 Indiana Oaks (G3). The gray and/or roan daughter of Quality Road is now 3-for-4, her only loss being a sixth-place finish on debut in March. She passed her first stakes test in the Indiana Oaks with flying colors. The Brendan Walsh trainee scored by four lengths over the locally based Top, clocking 1 1/16 miles under Edgar Morales in 1:42.42. Sturgeon Moon ran third. The winner, bred by Don Alberto out of the graded-placed Tapit mare Royal Obsession, paid $4.20 as the favorite in the field of six. Quality Road stood this year for $150,000 at Lane's End in Kentucky.