By Steve Sherack
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — There isn't a more expensive sales graduate in the 20-horse field for the GI Kentucky Derby than Whisper Hill Farm and Gainesway Stable's 'TDN Rising Star' Tapit Trice (Tapit).
The $1.3-million Keeneland September yearling graduate, bred in Kentucky by Antony Beck's operation, has gone on to validate that seven-figure pricetag in spades, bringing a four-race winning streak into the first Saturday in May off the heels of eye-catching, come-from-behind victories for Todd Pletcher in the GIII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby and GI Toyota Blue Grass S.
“I love Tapit, as everyone knows,” Pope said after signing the ticket at the 2021 KEESEP auction.
“This one was raised at Gainesway and I have a lot of faith in how they raise their horses. I felt like the horse had a good foundation built into him to begin with. He is level-headed unlike some of the Tapits. We are going to go on and make a stallion.”
The folks at Gainesway were awfully confident in a young Tapit Trice, too.
“He was a horse that we had high hopes for at a very young age,” Gainesway's General Manager Brian Graves reflected.
“He was one of those real leggy horses with a long neck and a beautiful, sloping shoulder. This horse came out looking good. He just always had this real sweeping walk, and the more time you spent around him as he grew up, you just had a feeling that he was one of your best colts, if not the best colt. It was obvious towards later in his yearling year that he was our best colt. We thought he was the one that would make a big splash at the sale.”
Did he ever. But not before causing some very anxious moments.
“About four days before the auction, he came in three-legged lame from his paddock one morning and he had a massive foot abscess,” Graves said.
“It actually took four of five days to resolve. It was a little scary. We had to dig the abscess out and we had to have a special shoe on him to support his foot for showing. Everything came around and a lot of top judges in the business found him. It came down to Repole Stables and Mandy, and Mandy won. And when the smoke cleared, she asked us if we'd like to stay in. We thought very highly of him the whole time and the answer was gonna be yes.”
Tapit Trice became the 31st Grade I/Group 1 winner worldwide for Gainesway's all-conquering sire in the Blue Grass. Beck purchased Tapit Trice's MSW & GSP dam Danzatrice (Dunkirk) for $105,000 as an OBS Spring 2-year-old in 2014. She's produced fillies by Tapit in 2021 and 2022. The former also went to Whisper Hill Farm for $1.1 million at last year's Keeneland September sale.
Danzatrice, a half-sister to champion 2-year-old filly Jaywalk (Cross Traffic), is currently in foal Tapit for a 2024 foal. Tapit Trice is her second offspring.
“To have this success with Mandy and share it is really special,” Graves concluded. “She's put so much into the business. Frankly, aside from Ron Winchell and Gainesway, she has put so much into Tapit. She's bred to him more than anybody besides those two. She's been his biggest fan and it's just really nice to see her get rewarded.”
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
