Tapwrit tossed his hat into the spring classics ring March 11 with a brilliant performance in the Grade 2 $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby, dispatching a field of nine other hopefuls. The handsome, muscular gray son of leading sire Tapit set a stakes record for the 1 1/16-mile major prep for the Kentucky Derby and also earned 50 Kentucky Derby points.
Though Tapit has led the general sire list for three consecutive years with record earnings in each, siring three graded stakes winners on the same day, March 4, was a noteworthy accomplishment even for him.
Gainesway’s repatriated stallion Empire Maker continues to leave his mark on his former home of Japan, where the sire picked up a trio of 3-year-old maiden winners March 4 in consecutive races at Hanshin Racecourse.
The first foals by triple Grade/Group 1 winner Karakontie continue to impress as they arrive and develop around the Bluegrass. Gainesway, which stands Karakontie and has provided significant mare support to the stallion, has several of Karakontie’s first foals at the Lexington property.
Tap It All became the newest black-type winner for Gainesway’s sophomore stallion Tapizar when the 3-year-old bay filly won the Feb. 11 California Oaks Stakes at Golden Gate Fields.
Don Alberto Stable’s 3-year-old Tapit filly Unique Bella threw down a scintillating performance in the Grade 2 Las Virgenes Stakes at Santa Anita Feb. 5, one that has many racing pundits singing her praises as a possible Triple Crown candidate.
A fixture on the U.S. racing scene since 1935, the Experimental Free Handicap is a weight-based assessment of the previous year’s juvenile runners. Gainesway’s Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile-winning Tapizar led all other first-crop sires with four youngsters among the rankings: two colts and two fillies.
Gainesway stallions are well represented among the 418 early nominees for the 2017 Triple Crown.
Gainesway’s three-time Grade/Group 1 winner Karakontie sired his first reported foal Jan. 19, a filly bred by Jim and Pam Robinson’s Brandywine Farm and foaled at their Paris, Ky., property.
Gainesway was noticeable among stallion owners bidding on mares at the Keeneland January sale to support their first-season sires and through four days of the five-day auction, the Kentucky nursery has signed for five mares targeted to visit two-time graded stakes winner Anchor Down (Tapit) when he begins his stud career next month.