3 minute read

Tapit half-brother to Triple Crown-winning shuttler American Pharoah gets off the mark at Santa Anita

Triple Tap (3 c Tapit - Littleprincessemma by Yankee Gentleman) - a half-brother to Triple Crown winner and now Coolmore Stud shuttler American Pharoah (Pioneerof The Nile) - got off the mark at the first time of asking when he broke his maiden over seven furlongs at Santa Anita on Saturday. 

Like his famous half-brother, Triple Tap is trained by Bob Baffert and he showed an impressive turn of foot to kick off the turn, before going on to post a four and a quarter length win over stablemate Barraza (Into Mischief). 

"It went smooth. He broke well, he rated off that horse kindly, and when (Flavien Prat, jockey) asked him to go he pushed the button, he accelerated," Baffert told TVG. "We were always pretty high on this horse. It just took a while to get him to the races because Jane (Lyon, breeder) is very patient and they're her babies, and I got to take care of her babies. It's really exciting because Jane puts so much time and effort in and she loves her horses, and she probably makes me more nervous sitting next to her during the race. I was explaining to her, 'I think you're OK,' but it's exciting. You got 'Pharoah's' brother and he can really run, and that's a big plus."

Baffert was not willing to commit to any plans with the valuable colt and said he doesn’t want to rush him.

"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," Baffert said. "…I want to get this race out of the way and then we're going to talk about it and figure out what we're going to do.

"He won nice, it looks like he can go two turns easily. I just like what I saw today. 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."

The colt is out of Littleprincessemma (Yankee Gentleman), making him not only a half-brother to American Pharoah, but also a brother to Grade 1 winner Chasing Yesterday. 

Littleprincessemma is herself a daughter of Listed winner Exclusive Rosette (Ecliptical) - the dam of Grade 2 sorcerer Storm Wolf (Stormin Fever) and Grade 3 winner Misty Rosette (Stormin Fever). 

Tapit is the sire of 141 stakes winners, headed by 27 elite level scorers and he stands at Gainesway Stud for a fee of US$185,000. 

Meanwhile, American Pharoah himself is the sire of 102 winners, including two in Australia and his progeny is headed by top-flight-winning trio Cafe Pharoah, Harvey’s Lil Goil and Van Gogh and he is standing at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud base in Kentucky for a fee of US$100,000.