TAPIT’s Grade 1 winning son Tapit Trice made his sixth career trip to the winner’s circle on Saturday with a victory in the Woodward S. (G2) at the Belmont at the Big A meet.
The gray was content to drop back almost immediately out of the gate in the 1 1/8-mile dirt race as two horses challenged for the lead. Going into the backstretch, there was a clear leader as the horses spread out and Tapit Trice took his spot about seven lengths off the leader. Working his way into the far turn, Tapit Trice moved close to put himself just behind the leader before finding trouble in midturn when that horse started to fade.
Tapit Trice moved to the outside of that one and set his aim on the new leader, who had over three lengths on him. In a perfectly timed trip, Tapit Trice got up a few strides from the wire to win by three quarters of a length for Whisper Hill Farm and Gainesway.
“He seemed like much-the-best horse today,” trainer Todd Pletcher’s assistant Amelia Green said. “He had to check off heels at the five-sixteenths pole and came running late. He has all the talent in the world. We’ve always thought he world of him since he was two years old. It’s nice when he puts it together and shows you the performances that he shows us in the morning all the time.”
TAPIT TRICE, the 4YO son of @Gainesway stallion Tapit, makes a push for the win under @DavisJockey in the Woodward Stakes (G2) for @PletcherRacing! pic.twitter.com/C8CF7AV25b
— NYRA (🌳) (@TheNYRA) September 28, 2024
Trained by Todd Pletcher, Tapit Trice has won two of his three starts this year with a victory in the Monmouth Cup (G3) to kick off 2024. He is also the winner of the Blue Grass S. (G1), and Tampa Bay Derby (G3) as well.
Next up looks like a potential run at this year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) at Del Mar on November 2.
“We’ve always felt he was a Classic-type horse, so I’ll talk to the Whisper Hill team about it,” said Pletcher. “We were certainly going into this hoping to run a race that would earn his way in. It certainly looked like he did that today.”
A $1.3 million yearling purchase by Whisper Hill Farm after being bred, raised and offered by Gainesway, he is out of the stakes winning Danzatrice. That mare is a half-sister to champion Jaywalk and four other winners out of Lady Pewitt, whose other winners also include the 10-time winning Nice Guys Finish.
Danzatrice has a juvenile filly sister to Tapit Trice named Aeolian and foaled a colt by TAPIT in February.