American Pharoah's half-brother impresses at Santa Anita

Triple Tap, a half-brother to 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, pulled away in the stretch to impressively break his maiden on debut for trainer Bob Baffert at Santa Anita on Saturday.

The Tapit colt broke well in the seven-furlong heat and settled about a half-length behind Eyes Open, who knocked out fractions of 23.31, 46.63 and 1:10.9 for six furlongs. 

On the turn, Triple Tap and Flavien Prat ranged up on the outside and surged past Eyes Open, then opened up in the stretch to win going away by 4 1/2 lengths.

“It went smooth. He broke well, rated off that horse kindly, and when he asked him to go he pushed the button and he accelerated,” Baffert told TVG’s Britney Eurton from the winner’s circle. “ We’ve always been pretty high on this horse, it just took a little while to get him to the races.”

Sent off the 1-5 favorite, Triple Tap returned $2.40 for the win.

“He won nice, it looks like he can go two turns easily, I just like what I saw today," Baffert said. "I really didn’t want to go seven-eighths with him. The further the better with him…I got to thank track management here for letting us run these great horses in short fields.”

In addition to his Triple Crown-winning half brother, Triple Tap -- who is out of Littleprincessemma, by Yankee Gentleman -- is also a full brother to Chasing Yesterday. That mare, also trained by Baffert, became a Grade 1 winner in the 2018 Starlet at Los Alamitos. She also had multiple other stakes victories before being retired after the 2019 Santa Anita Oaks.

Triple Tap, like Chasing Yesterday, is a Summer Wind Equine homebred. He is nominated for the Triple Crown, though it is likely a little late in the game for him to be considered as part of the Kentucky Derby trail.

“It’s going to be a little difficult, the thing is, we don’t (want) to rush him, so we’re not even thinking about that right now…I want to get this race out of the way and then we’re gonna talk about it and figure out what we’re gonna do."

The runner-up in the race, Barraza, is also trained by Baffert. Eyes Open was caught in the late going and finished third for trainer Dan Blacker.