Tapit Trice (Susie Raisher)
G2 Beldame or G1 Spinster Next Stop for Nest
Dazzling Debut Winner Fierceness Eyeing G1 Champagne
NYRA Press Office
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.— Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher reported Sunday that 3-year-olds Tapit Trice and Forte emerged well from their respective third- and fourth-place finishes in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers.
“They’re doing good,” Pletcher said. “Both of them looked well this morning.”
Whisper Hill Farm and Gainesway Stable’s Grade 1 Blue Grass winner Tapit Trice, fitted with blinkers for the first time in the 154th Travers, found himself closer to the lead than he had been in recent starts despite breaking a step slow and was still within one length after one mile but was unable to catch the winner, Arcangelo, or Disarm, who rallied up the rail for second.
Ridden by Jose Ortiz, Tapit Trice wound up beaten 3 1/2 lengths. He also ran third by a length and a half to Arcangelo in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets June 10.
“He got a bit of a wide trip around the first turn, but he got involved and I thought he stayed on steadily through the lane,” Pletcher said. “It was a good third-place effort.”
Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable’s Forte, the Champion 2-Year-Old Male of 2022 that went off as the 8-5 Travers favorite, broke from the rail but lost his inside position to Arcangelo early on and trailed each of his six rivals through the first quarter-mile of the Travers.
Jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. was forced to swing well wide in an effort to make up ground, but Forte was unable close on the muddy main track and wound up 4 1/2 lengths behind his stablemate, beaten eight lengths for it all. Forte, who began the year with wins in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth and Grade 1 Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park, finished second to Arcangelo in the Belmont and went into the Travers off a gutsy nose triumph in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy July 29 at Saratoga.
“It was kind of odd how things unfolded going into the first turn, that we ended up outside the eventual winner,” Pletcher said. “He kind of lost some position there and got shuffled all the way back to last, and then had to go wide to kind of get back involved and just kind of ran evenly from there.”
Pletcher indicated no decision has been made on where either of Tapit Trice or Forte will run next.
“Not yet,” he said. “We’ll give it a few days to see how they are and come up with a game plan.”
Pletcher is pleased with how Repole Stable, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Michael House’s Nest has come out of her third-place finish as the favorite in Friday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Personal Ensign, just her second start this year following her 2022 Champion 3-Year-Old Filly campaign.
“She’s doing good,” Pletcher said. “She bounced out of the race well.”
Nest settled in third in the Personal Ensign behind Idiomatic, who was able to set sensible fractions up front on a sloppy and sealed main track and had plenty left to repel all her challengers to win by an easy four lengths. Nest battled with Secret Oath through the lane for second but came up a neck short.
“It was hard to make up ground on a sloppy, gooey track when a quality horse gets loose on the lead,” Pletcher said. “I thought she ran hard. It was only her second race of the year so, hopefully, it moves her forward.”
Pletcher said Nest will be pointed to either the Grade 2, $250,000 Beldame during the Belmont at the Big A fall meet or the Grade 1, $600,000 Juddmonte Spinster at Keeneland. Both 1 1/8-mile races are October 8.
Repole Stable’s 2-year-old Fierceness, a homebred son of City of Light that dazzled in his career debut Friday, could make his next start on the same weekend in the Grade 1, $500,000 Champagne October 7. The Champagne is a “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the Grade 1, $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile November 3 at Santa Anita.
“I think the Champagne is the most logical next start,” Pletcher said.
Out of the Stay Thirsty mare Nonna Bella, Fierceness led every step of the way in his unveiling, gradually pulling away from his seven rivals to win the six-furlong maiden special weight by 11 1/4 lengths in 1:09.56 over a muddy and sealed main track. The win garnered a 95 Beyer Speed Figure – the second highest number this year for a 2-year-old.
“He was very impressive,” Pletcher said. “He had been training really well leading up to it. We were expecting a good effort, but he actually delivered an even better one than we were hoping for.”
