It was a huge stakes debut for TAPIT’s Arthur’s Ride on Saturday when trainer Bill Mott’s faith was paid off with a 2 1/4-length victory in the Whitney Stakes (G1).
The 1 1/8-mile dirt race on a sealed track saw Arthur’s Ride break nearly widest of all before bolting to the lead. The 4-year-old was happy to set the pace just over a length ahead of Skippylongstocking with the rest of the field fanned out behind him.
It was a masterclass by jockey Junior Alvarado, who sat quietly on his mount around the turn as the rest of the jockeys got to work on their own to try and close the gap. It looked like the other horses may have a chance to catch him at the top of the stretch, but it didn’t take long for him to crush their dreams.
With just a few taps from Alvarado, Arthur’s Ride found another gear and started to pull away. Allowed to coast home in the final sixteenth, Arthur’s Ride won by 2 1/4 lengths before pulling away again in the gallop out when another horse approached him.
TAPIT also plays a part in the pedigree of third placed finisher Post Time, who is by another TAPIT Whitney (G1) winning son in Frosted.
“I thought it was good. There were a couple of good horses in there – nice field. I mean, first time in Grade 1 company, you couldn’t be happier,” said Mott after winning his first Whitney. “As we speak, I am watching the rerun on the big screen. I mean he has a lot of stamina. I figured if he could get to the quarter-pole on the lead, he could put them away because he has a tremendous amount of stamina this horse.”
Raced by Glassman Racing, this was the third win in four starts this year for Arthur’s Ride with the colt finishing in the top two in six of his seven career starts overall.
“The horse is named after my [late] father and to share that with my sister and my siblings [in the winner’s circle] to watch it and my dad watching it [from above] – it doesn’t get better than that. To be part of Bill Mott winning his first Whitney – my goodness, we’ll wake up but I don’t know when. I almost hope we don’t!” Karl Glassman said of the emotional victory.
The colt was bred by Helen and Joseph Barbazon and the Tapit Syndicate and consigned by Gainesway to the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, where he fetched $250,000 from Donato Lanni as agent.
Arthur’s Ride is out of Canada’s 2009 Champion Older Turf Female Points of Grace, who also produced Canada’s 2016 Champion 2-Year-Old Filly Victory To Victory, multiple stakes winner Alittleloveandluck, and the stakes placed Double Best from her six runners.
The page also includes Grade 1 winner Favorable Terms among the nine stakes winners under Arthur’s Ride’s first two dams.
Points of Grace has a winning 3-year-old filly by TAPIT named Genetics as well.
This is the sixth stakes winner of the year for TAPIT, whose runners hav registered five stakes victories since June 1.