Tappan Street rallies to win Florida Derby + Ky. Derby ticket
Tappan Street made huge strides forward on the road to the Triple Crown on Saturday at Gulfstream Park, where the son of Into Mischief scored a 1 1/4-length victory in the Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby.
After finishing second in the Feb. 1 Holy Bull (G3), Tappan Street was held out of the March 1 Fountain of Youth (G2) at Gulfstream in favor of returning eight weeks later in the 74th running of the 1 1/8-mile Florida Derby.
Click here for Gulfstream Park entries and results.
Tappan Street earned his way into the 20-horse field for the May 3 Kentucky Derby with his victory Saturday. Because the race offered 100-50-25-15-10 qualifying points to the top five finishers, second-place Sovereignty and fourth-place Madaket Road also earned invitations thanks to the points they already earned.
A debut victor Dec. 28 at Gulfstream before coming up 1 3/4 lengths short in the Holy Bull, Tappan Street was Saturday’s second-betting choice at 2-1. Fountain of Youth winner Sovereignty was sent to the post as the 8-5 morning-line favorite in the field of 10 3-year-olds.
“This is a step forward today. His numbers his first two starts were really good. I felt like the two-month lead up to the Florida Derby would propel him forward,” Tappan Street’s trainer Brad Cox said.
Tappan Street broke alertly from his no. 9 post position, one stall inside Sovereignty in the starting gate. That enabled him to grab a favorable stalking position behind pacesetter Madaket Road, Neoequos and Indecisiveness.
Madaket Road set a lively pace under Hall of Famer Mike Smith, setting fractions of 23.37 and 47.37 seconds for the first half-mile. Edgard Zayas sent Neoequos outside Madaket Road on the second turn, Indecisiveness dropped back, and Tappan Street began to advance under Luis Saez with Sovereignty Road right behind him after shaking free of traffic.
“Anytime you have a young horse like this and you give them eight weeks between starts, it’s always a concern. But this is a very smart horse. He’s intelligent,” Cox said. “I thought he would break very, very well today the way he was training, and he did. That put him in the race and put him in a great position.”
Neoequos outkicked Madaket Road to take the lead at the top of the stretch but soon met a strong challenge from Tappan Road, who drew away to his first stakes victory.
Sovereignty also put in a solid stretch run to finish second under Manny Franco, who was filling in for injured Junior Alvarado. Neoequos held third, 1 1/2 lengths farther back.
Saez was confident that Tappan Street’s superior field position would make it tough for Sovereignty beat him.
“He was traveling professionally today. I saw (Sovereignty), and I let my horse go a little bit more, and he gave me a good turn of foot. When he came to the top of the stretch, I knew it was going to be tough to catch (us),” Saez said. “As soon as we broke from the gate, I had a lot of confidence the whole way. I knew he was going to give me a good turn of foot at the top of the stretch. He always does.”
“Luis was very high on him after he broke his maiden. He was very high on him after the Holy Bull,” Cox said. “He had a lot of confidence in him, and it all came together today.”
Sovereignty was eighth while racing three wide around the first turn and was caught between horses at the top of the backstretch. He shook clear and made a three-wide sweep on the far turn to enter contention but was no match for the winner.
“He came with his run. He ran well. He had a pretty good trip. He got a little wide going into the first turn, but he got in and got a pretty good trip. (Franco) said the ground kind of broke away from him two different times, once at the three-eighths pole and once at the five-sixteenths pole,” Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said. “He said he kind of lost it and gathered himself up, and then he did it again. But, look, he ran OK. The winner ran good. It was a good race.
“This doesn’t have to be his best race. Sometimes you can look at it and say maybe that’s a good thing. You don’t want their best race before the big event. This is a very important race, but I think the fact that he ran very big last time and ran very well this time, maybe he’ll continue to improve. I don’t think the fact that he didn’t win doesn’t mean he didn’t run a good race.”
Disruptor, who was Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher’s bid to win a record-extending ninth Florida Derby, got away from the starting gate last of 10 and finished fifth as the 3-1 third choice. Madaket Road faded to fourth, 1 1/2 lengths behind Neoequos.
Tappan Street, who ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.27, will be Kentucky-bound early next week.
“We have five weeks. We have to make sure he comes out of it in good order, first and foremost. Our plan right now is Monday or Tuesday to ship him to Churchill,” Cox said. “Hopefully he comes out of it in good order, and we can march forward. I think he’s going to get a tremendous amount out of this.”