Tapit has emerged as one of the most influential and breed-shaping stallions of the past half-century.
With his dominating 3¼-length victory in the $500,000 Gold Cup at Santa Anita, Cupid became the 21st Grade or Group 1 winner by Gainesway’s three-time leading sire Tapit and earned a 106 Beyer Speed Figure.
Gary and Mary West’s 3-year-old Tapit filly Actress made a splash, literally and figuratively, when she broke her maiden in the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico May 19, her third career start.
With the final entries taken and post positions drawn for the 143rd Kentucky Derby, five contenders for the May 6 Churchill Downs classic have ties to Gainesway stallions.
A pair of high-priced Tapit offerings added fuel to a record-setting OBS March sale of 2-year-olds in training that set records in gross and average price.
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.
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.
Gainesway stallions are well represented among the 418 early nominees for the 2017 Triple Crown.
Topping Book 1 of Keeneland’s January mixed sale was Siren Serenade, in foal to Tapit, marking the third straight major U.S. breeding stock sale a mare in foal to Gainesway’s three-time record-breaking leading sire has been the sale-topper.
Don Alberto Stable’s Unique Bella put the finishing touches on a stellar weekend for leading sire Tapit Jan. 8 at Santa Anita Park when she delivered an outstanding exhibition in the Grade 2 Santa Ynez Stakes. In only her third start, the 3-year-old gray filly earned 10 points toward a berth in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks.