Zipse: Taiba and Green Up look to move up the 3-year-old ladder

After a pair of dominating wins at Saratoga for each, Epicenter and Nest are poised to be the 3-year-old male and 3-year-old female champions at the close of the 2022 season. It would take something monumental by another horse in the final months of the season to knock them off their firm perch at the top of their divisions.

While I certainly don't expect that to happen, I will be keeping a keen eye on a pair of lightly raced sophomores pointing for a pair of million-dollar races at Parx on Sept. 24.

Taiba, pointing for the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby, and Green Up, heading to the Cotillion (G1), will look to prove that they belong among the elite 3-year-olds in the nation. If they can, they likely will get their shot against the best in the Breeders’ Cup.

They come from very different places – one is a Kentucky-bred who was purchased for $1.7 million as a 2-year-old in training, and the other is a Virginia-bred who sold for $10,000 as a yearling – but both have major potential.

Taiba is the one better known to the casual race fan. The high-priced juvenile has made only four career starts to date, but the last three have come in Grade 1 company.

After a powerful debut win for trainer Bob Baffert, the Gun Runner chestnut colt was transferred to the barn of Tim Yakteen because of Baffert's suspension.

Coming off only the 7 1/2-length score in the 6-furlong maiden race at Santa Anita five weeks earlier, Taiba was entered in the Santa Anita Derby (G1). The result was impressive, to say the least.

Powering by his multiple graded stakes-winning stablemate Messier, Taiba went on to a convincing 2 1/4-length victory. So impressive was the result that he was next asked the nearly impossible task of winning the 10-furlong Kentucky Derby in a field of 20 off only two lifetime races.

Of course, he came up well short at Churchill Downs, fading to a tired 12th down the stretch. A sign of how well regarded he was leading up to the first Saturday in May, he was the second betting choice behind Epicenter in the Run for the Roses despite his lack of experience.

Wisely given a freshening after the experience and returned to the Baffert barn, he came back 11 weeks later for the Haskell (G1).

Stuck down on the rail early, Taiba swung out for the stretch drive and briefly looked like a winner at Monmouth Park, but he lost narrowly to Cyberknife, who had made the most of the opening on the rail. It was his second straight defeat, but it was a very good return for the son of Gun Runner.

Working very well since, the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic remains the goal for Taiba, who will use the Pennsylvania Derby as a lucrative prep for the big one.

Green Up, meanwhile, still flies a bit under the radar. The daughter of Upstart finished second in her only start in 2021, which came when a solid second in a fast five-furlong maiden at Churchill Downs in May.

Purchased privately by Team Valor Stable and sent to trainer Todd Pletcher, she has been perfect in four starts as a 3-year-old.

Green Up made her sophomore debut on March 13 at Gulfstream Park and won the six-furlong maiden race by nearly seven lengths in fast time. She came back the following month to easily score in a one-mile allowance at the same track, proving that she was ready for stakes competition.

That initial stakes attempt would not happen until July 3 at Monmouth Park, but she made the most of the opportunity with an impressive 5 3/4-length score over the three-time graded stakes placed filly Radio Days in the Boiling Springs Stakes.

Next out, Green Up lengthened her winning streak to four with her best race yet when she dominated the multiple graded stakes winner Interstatedaydream in the Cathryn Sophia Stakes on Aug. 23. The final time for one mile and 70 yards at Parx was an eye-catching 1:39.77.

Like Taiba, she still has much to prove but looks very ready for her Grade 1 debut in the Cotillion.

Both Epicenter and Nest are very deserving of their place at the top of their divisions. They’ve earned it through consistently excellent racing in the biggest races of the first two-thirds of the year. Each of them will almost assuredly be Eclipse Award winners in the near future.

And the only reason I say almost is because of Taiba and Green Up, two talented and lightly raced horses looking to take it to the next level a week from Saturday at Parx.