Zipse: Tapit Trice is an intriguing Breeders’ Cup Classic prospect
After nearly a year away from the races, you might expect some rust to show. That concern never looked in play for Tapit Trice on Saturday at the Jersey Shore. Involved throughout, the Grade 1 winner took command around the turn before drawing off with ease down the Monmouth Park stretch to win the $400,000 Monmouth Cup (G3) by 5 1/4 lengths.
After his impressive return on Saturday, he would seem to be an interesting candidate for the 1 1/4-mile Breeders' Cup Classic in a few months at Del Mar.
Bred by Gainesway Farm, the son of Tapit was produced by the multiple stakes winning Dunkirk mare Danzatrice. Although he has yet to win in three starts at 10 furlongs or more, his pedigree screams out distance. With the current top-rated older males National Treasure and Señor Buscador both possibly better suited for distances a little shorter, the advantage could go to Tapit Trice.
Of course, the powerfully built gray has teased us before.
After a promising debut at Aqueduct, the Whisper Hill Farm and Gainesway Stable runner rattled off a quartet of good-looking victories at four racetracks, which carried him to Churchill Downs as a major threat to take home the hardware in the 2023 Kentucky Derby.
It never materialized, however, as the $1.3 million yearling purchase languished way back for much of the race and could not make up nearly enough ground to threaten the winner, Mage.
As quickly as he had built a four-race winning streak, Tapit Trice did the same in reverse. Additional defeats in the Belmont Stakes, Haskell (G1) and Travers (G1) tagged him with a four-race losing streak.
After running third in last August’s Travers behind the champion Arcangelo, Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher pulled the plug. The second choice in the Kentucky Derby would get plenty of time off in hopes of coming back as a more mature and more successful 4-year-old.
As rider Irad Ortiz Jr. pushed all the right buttons on Saturday and his mount gave him everything a jockey could ask for, the time off appears to be just what the doctor ordered.
Leaving the progressive graded-stakes winner Highland Falls hopelessly behind in the Monmouth Cup, Tapit Trice looked the part of a serious older male.
The win was his fifth overall from 10 career starts, and his record now includes three graded stakes victories. In the two races leading up to last year’s run for the roses, the 4-year-old gray was a convincing winner of the Tampa Bay Derby (G3) and Keeneland’s Blue Grass (G1).
With better than $1.4 million in the bank already, the best still could be on the horizon for Tapit Trice.
After missing chances to make his comeback a bit earlier because of a minor setback, Pletcher had him ready to roll in his return. This impressive win in July should give him enough time to get in a couple of more races before the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 2.
Keep in mind, we are only five years removed from the job Pletcher did to develop Vino Rosso into a big winner at the end of his 4-year-old season. Like Tapit Trice, he was a well-bred and long-winded type who could not get it done in the meat of his sophomore year.
Pletcher decided to stop on him after the Travers as well. He came back a better older horse, and when the 2019 Breeders’ Cup Classic did not come up particularly tough, Vino Rosso was ready to become a champion at Santa Anita.
Will history repeat itself in 2024? Tapit Trice is not yet at the top of my pecking order, but given his performance Saturday in the Monmouth Cup after off an 11-month layaway, he is on the short list of horses who would make sense to be in the Del Mar winner’s circle.