Nevada Collects at Belmont Park, Named Hot Prospect

BloodHorse Maiden Watch highlights the performances of 2- and 3-year-old maidens (the latter category only through June) with the potential for graded stakes success based on criteria such as a horse that has made no more than five starts and either sold for more than $500,000 at public auction, has siblings that are graded/group winners, or has a dam that is a graded/group winner. BloodHorse research shows maiden winners who meet these criteria are more likely to go on to be graded stakes winners. Following the early deaths of his sire and dam, the promising juvenile Nevada looks poised to preserve the family legacy. The $1 million yearling by Uncle Mo ran to lofty expectations Oct. 16 at Belmont Park, scoring a professional 2-length, come-from-behind maiden victory under Flavien Prat. He is the latest BloodHorse Maiden Watch Hot Prospect. The long-striding winner ran a mile in 1:36.47 on a good main track in Friday's second race, capped by a final furlong in :12.79 as timed by Equibase GPS. He paid $6.14 for a $2 win wager. Nevada overcame hitting the starting gate, outrunning his six rivals, four of them more experienced, including runner-up D. C.'s Army, who had been fourth on debut at Saratoga Race Course this summer. That rival gave Nevada a stiff challenge until the sixteenth pole, when the winner kicked clear. Chad Brown trains Nevada for Coolmore-affiliated owners Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith, plus other partners in Peter Brant and Brook Smith. These connections, along with partner Westerberg, notably campaigned 2024 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) winner Sierra Leone, who entered stud this past breeding season at Coolmore's Ashford Stud in Kentucky. Like Nevada, Sierra Leone was an expensive yearling purchase for the group and scored on debut in New York at a mile before developing in stakes company. The partners aim to purchase yearling colts with attractive looks and pedigrees. If these horses succeed in major stakes races, they become highly commercial stallion prospects. Uncle Mo, a champion juvenile who became a successful sire at Ashford Stud before his death in late 2024, has sired 127 stakes winners, led by Nyquist, an Eclipse champion and Kentucky Derby (G1) winner. Nevada, bred in Ontario at Anderson Farms Ont., was purchased last year from his breeder's consignment at Fasig-Tipton's The Saratoga Sale in upstate New York by Coolmore's M.V. Magnier and Brant's White Birch Farm. As a Canadian foal, Nevada is eligible for next year's King's Plate Stakes at Woodbine and other races in the Canadian Triple Crown. Those races, however, don't offer the same stallion-enhancing credentials as grade 1 contests, including those within the United States Triple Crown. Nevada's dam, the Tapit mare Full Tap, won three races and earned $149,305. Before her death in 2025, she had a promising broodmare career, producing five foals. All four of those of racing age are winners. Her youngest produce, a Charlatan filly, is a yearling. Her most accomplished foal is Thermal, a stakes winner by Nyquist who captured this year's Memorial Day Sprint Stakes at Lone Star Park and has since placed in a couple of graded stakes. Most recently, she showed in the Chillingworth Stakes (G3) earlier this month at Santa Anita Park. Another foal, Cafe Society, became a two-time winner and earned two stakes placings, topped by a second in the 2022 Presque Isle Downs Masters Stakes (G2).