Tapit

West Point Thoroughbreds and the Green family's D J Stable went to $1.2 million to acquire a colt by Tapit from the Lothenbach dispersal Tuesday at OBS. Bred by the late Bob Lothenbach, the gray colt is out of Distorted Music (Distorted Humor) and is a half-brother to graded winner She Can't Sing (Bernardini). He was consigned by Tom McCrocklin. The result was the third million-dollar sale from the dispersal. She Can't Sing sold for $1.1 million at the Fasig-Tipton Winter Mixed Sale where Bell's the One sold for $1.3...

For a stallion farm, it's the equivalent of the "difficult second album" so notorious in the music industry. You've launched a new sire, and profited from the customary stampede of commercial mares. But the vogue proves to be cruelly fleeting. When he returns to the covering shed, the following spring, he offers exactly the same performance history, chromosomes and conformation as before. But suddenly the phone is cold. Precisely the factors that drove his debut book--novelty, plus security from imminent exposure of his competence (or otherwise) to replicate ability--have meanwhile...

The TDN's popular annual series 'Mating Plans, presented by Spendthrift,' continues today in a conversation with Hanzly Albina of Newtownanner Stud. "I don't take this lightly at all," said Albina, who is both general manager of Newtownanner's Kentucky farm and North American bloodstock manager of the operation. "It's a ton of fun when it works out. For me, the physical is what I'm shooting for as I can't predict performance. We want to produce what we would buy in a sales ring, want to produce as nice a horse as...

The coach strikes again. Before seeing any past performances, if one was asked to guess Saturday morning before the day's races which trainer might break a maiden in a graded Kentucky Oaks points race while at the same time helping a young jockey get his first career graded score, odds are the first name off of most everyone's lips would be D. Wayne Lukas. The Hall of Famer, with his usual flair for the unconventional, sent out 28-1 Lemon Muffin (f, 3, Collected--Pelt, by Canadian Frontier) under Keith Asmussen to...

The TDN's popular annual series 'Mating Plans, presented by Spendthrift,' continues today in a conversation with Whisper Hill Farm's Mandy Pope.   Shedaresthedevil, 7, Daredevil—Starship Warpspeed, by Congrats. To be bred to Into Mischief. When we planned Shedaresthedevil's first mating, we chose Gun Runner because we loved the physical match and we also liked the Storm Cat and A.P. Indy in her pedigree for him.   She foaled January 29th, and the filly is everything that we had hoped and dreamed she could be! She is a big, strong chestnut filly...

Disarm (c, 4, Gun Runner--Easy Tap, by Tapit), sidelined since finishing a closing second behind Arcangelo (Arrogate) in the GI Travers S. at Saratoga Aug. 26, has returned to training with Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen at the Fair Grounds. A respectable fourth at 27-1 in the GI Kentucky Derby, last term's GIII Matt Winn S. winner and GII Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby runner-up exited his second-place finish in the Travers with bone bruising, per David Fiske, longtime advisor to owner/breeder Ron Winchell. "He was walking visibly off after the Travers,"...

GSW Magic on Tap (Tapit) is celebrating his first foal--a filly out Sea Gazer (Tiznow)--who arrived just after midnight Jan. 17 for breeder Scott Miller, Pleasant Acres Stallions said in a Thursday release. Sea Gazer's dam Seafree (Chief Seattle) collected four wins including the GII La Canada S. and was third in the GI Santa Margarita Invitational H. She produced MSW Interest Free (Exchange Rate) who is responsible for SW Market Analysis (Honor Code). Seafree is a half-sister to GI Belmont S. and GI Travers S. runner-up Fly Down (Mineshaft)....

Unbeaten Horse of the Year and champion older male Flightline (Tapit) was represented by his first two foals Friday evening. Juju's Map (Liam's Map) foaled a filly late Jan. 12 at Taylor Made in Kentucky and Lady Scarlet (Union Rags) foaled a colt in the early hours of Jan. 13 at Thirty Year Farm in New York. Both are first foals for the mares. Juju's Map, owned by Albaugh Family Racing Stables LLC, won the GI Darley Alcibiades S. and was runner-up in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. "We...

Today we conclude our survey of Kentucky stallion options with a look at the apex of the pyramid, comprising a couple of dozen standing between $60,000 and $250,000--besides whatever it might take to secure your mare an audience with Justify. It feels presumptuous enough to offer counsel even on cheaper sires, when each mating should boil down to you finding an optimal fit for an individual mare that you know inside out. Still greater hesitation, then, must precede any attempt to discover "value" among this lot. No stallion has any...

Spendthrift Farm's Greatest Honour sired his first reported foal Jan. 5 when KatieRich Farms in Midway announced that I Love Nola had delivered a colt by the well-bred son of Tapit. "This colt has the longest legs we've ever seen on a newborn foal. He has an extraordinary hip and a beautiful head. This is the biggest foal the mare has had. We are very, very happy," said Martha Rattner, whose Rattner Bloodstock LLC bred the foal. Greatest Honour, hailing from a half-sister to champion Rags to Riches; Irish Highweight...

5th-OP, $115K, Msw, 2yo, 1 1/16m, 3:22 p.m. ET. A $700,000 Keeneland September purchase by Willis Horton Racing and trained by Eddie Milligan Jr., WILL TAKE IT (Tapit) is the first to the post out of unraced Lady Take Charge (War Front). The latter was the top-priced foal at the 2015 Keeneland November Sale when she was hammered down to Whisper Hill Farm for $3.2 million. Eclipse Award winner Take Charge Brandi (Giant's Causeway), a daughter of Lady Take Charge's half-sister Charming (Seeking the Gold), was the overall topper when...

By this stage, we can really talk about living in "the Into Mischief era." Not just because the Spendthrift phenomenon ends 2023 by sealing a fifth consecutive general sires' title, but also because he has become the definitive stallion of our times. In some respects, New Year's Day is a more literal turning point for our sport than other walks of life. For bureaucratic purposes, the weanlings of today become the short yearlings of tomorrow; and Into Mischief himself takes one step closer to veteran status, as he enters his...