Three-time leading sire Tapit realized his 23rd Grade 1 stakes winner when John Oxley’s homebred 3-year-old filly Dream Dancing thrust her nose across the finish line first in the Aug. 19 $300,000 Del Mar Oaks.
Ridden by Julien Leparoux for trainer Mark Casse, Dream Dancing lay 10th of 12 fillies in the early stages of the nine-furlong turf event. As the field approached the final turn, Leparoux had deftly maneuvered Dream Dancing to the outside and placed her in striking position. With the race seemingly wide open in midstretch, the gray filly fought to the finish with Beau Recall and favored Madame Dancealot to narrowly earn her first Grade 1 victory.
Oxley bred Dream Dancing from his homebred mare To Dream About, a daughter of Monarchos—winner of the 2001 Kentucky Derby in the blue and yellow-blocked Oxley silks—and Oxley’s 1999 champion older female Beautiful Pleasure.
To Dream About has a yearling full brother to Dream Dancing.
Dream Dancing is Tapit’s third Grade 1 winner of 2017, joining Belmont Stakes winner Tapwrit and Gold Cup at Santa Anita winner Cupid. She is also the third of Tapit’s 13 Grade 1-winning fillies to earn her top-level honor on turf, joining Tapitsfly and Time and Motion. Tapit’s daughter Laragh also won graded races on grass after scoring her Grade 1 victory on Hollywood Park’s synthetic surface.
Tapit has sired 99 career stakes winners with 19 so far this year, 15 of them new. His progeny have total earnings approaching $117 million.