Tarifa Turns Tables On Gun Song in Mother Goose

There was a time, not that long ago, when the Mother Goose Stakes was one of the most prestigious Grade I summer targets for sophomore fillies in North America. It may be a Grade II now late in the season while the division leaders wait another week for the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff, but Godolphin homebred and 'TDN Rising Star' Tarifa (f, 3 Bernardini–Kite Beach, by Awesome Again) did her part to honor that former glory at the Belmont at Aqueduct meet with an extremely game and tenacious victory as she turned back Gun Song (Gun Runner), who bested her when the two filled out the trifecta behind 3-year-old filly champion-elect Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) in the Sept. 21 GI Cotillion Stakes at Parx.

Tarifa stumbled slightly a few strides out of the gate Saturday, causing jockey Flavien Prat to sit down in the saddle briefly, but the duo quickly regained their poise and gunned to the front. Meanwhile, John Velazquez parked Gun Song, winner of the GII Black-Eyed Susan Stakes in May and the Cathryn Sophia Stakes in August, immediately off Tarifa's flank as the latter set a steady :24.08 and :48.86 pace. With the tempo quickening entering the final turn, Gun Song drew on even terms with Tarifa and looked to have the upper hand as she was doing it easily. A ding-dong battle down the stretch ensued with Gun Song poking her blinkered head in front, but Tarifa wasn't done. She fought back stride by stride on sheer heart, not only besting Gun Song by a head, but also holding off a late-closing Pretty Ana (Quality Road), who was just another head back.

“She jumped very well, and I don't know, I think I clipped somebody's heel on the outside so I lost a bit of momentum,” said Prat. “She was still fast enough to make the lead. After that, I thought she was traveling well. Top of the lane, it looked like I'm beaten, and she showed some good fight.

“It felt like she did not want to give up. But in the meantime, it looked like [Gun Song] had more than me. Like I said, she fought hard. It was good.”

Trainer Brad Cox's assistant Dustin Dugas said Tarifa lost her right front shoe and told the NYRA notes team he believes it happened when she stumbled just after the start.

Named a 'Rising Star' with a visually impressive six-length debut during this week exactly one year ago at Keeneland, Tarifa won three in a row at Fair Grounds, including the GII Fair Grounds Oaks and GII Rachel Alexandra Stakes, this winter and spring. After not factoring in the GI Kentucky Oaks, she got a freshening and returned with a second in the Audubon Oaks at Ellis in August and the third behind Thorpedo Anna and Gun Song in the Cotillion last month.

Pedigree Notes:

Tarifa is one of 53 graded winners and 20 'TDN Rising Stars' for the much-missed Bernardini, himself a champion, 'Rising Star', and Darley/Godolphin homebred. Until his death at 18 in 2021, he stood at Darley, where he sired 88 black-type winners to date. His final crop is currently juveniles. While Tarifa is Bernardini's only graded stakes winner out of a daughter of Awesome Again, whose daughters have produced 108 black-type winners, he has three graded winners out of mares by Awesome Again's sire Deputy Minister, including GISWs To Honor and Serve and Angela Renee.

Tarifa's female family is responsible for Horse of the Year Tiznow, GI Preakness Stakes winner Oxbow, and other GISWs Paynter and Sweet Azteca, with the Godolphin team joining the party in 2001 when John Ferguson Bloodstock purchased Tizdubai–a full-sister to Tiznow and granddam of Tarifa–as a weanling for $950,000 on behalf of Godolphin. Winner of the 2003 GII Sorrento Stakes, Tizdubai didn't produce a stakes performer herself, but her daughters have already produced seven, including MGSW Cabo Spirit (Pioneerof the Nile), who most recently won the GII California Crown John Henry Turf Championship Stakes Sept. 28.

Darley sold Kite Beach, dam of Tarifa, for $100,000 at the 2021 Keeneland November sale, when Tarifa was a weanling, to M T Stable. Kite Beach was sold again a few months later at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Winter Mixed sale for $115,000 to Calumet Farm with a two-day-old full-sister to Tarifa at her side. Since named Josie's Girl, that now-juvenile filly debuted with an off-the-board finish Sept. 24 at Indianapolis for MNM Racing LLC and trainer Eddie Kenneally. Kite Beach has a yearling colt by Knicks Go, didn't produce a foal in 2024, and was bred to Darley's Cody's Wish for next term.

TARIFA wins the Grade 2 Mother Goose Stakes in a close finish with Flavien Prat aboard for trainer @bradcoxracing. pic.twitter.com/FghaquC6Li

— NYRA (🌳) (@TheNYRA) October 26, 2024

Saturday, Belmont the Big A
MOTHER GOOSE S.-GII, $242,500, Belmont The Big A, 10-26, 3yo, f, 1 1/8m, 1:50.78, ft.
1–TARIFA, 124, f, 3, by Bernardini
               1st Dam: Kite Beach, by Awesome Again
               2nd Dam: Tizdubai, by Cee's Tizzy
               3rd Dam: Cee's Song, by Seattle Song
O/B-Godolphin, LLC (KY); T-Brad H. Cox; J-Flavien Prat.
$137,500. 'TDN Rising Star' Lifetime Record: GISP, 9-5-1-1,
$801,925. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree or the free
Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Gun Song, 124, f, 3, Gun Runner–Nicole H, by Mr. Greeley.
($120,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP; $400,000 2yo '23 OBSMAR). O-R.
Lee Lewis; B-Marianne Stribling (KY); T-Mark A. Hennig.
$50,000.
3–Pretty Ana, 120, f, 3, Quality Road–Quiet Giant, by Giant's
Causeway. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE.
O/B-Three Chimneys Farm, LLC (Goncalo B. Torrealba) (KY);
T-Chad C. Brown. $30,000.
Margins: HD, HD, HF. Odds: 2.05, 0.95, 14.50.
Also Ran: Dorothy's Dreams, Headline Numbers. Scratched: Call Another Play, Just Music, Life Talk.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.