Brought to you by AmWager
Tappan Street and Luis Saez conquer the Florida Derby (Coglianese)
David Joseph/Gulfstream Park
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – WinStar Farm LLC, CHC Inc. and Cold Press Racing’s Tappan Street made huge strides forward on the Road to the Triple Crown Saturday at Gulfstream Park, where the son of Into Mischief scored a thoroughly professional 1 ¼-length victory in the $1 million Curlin Florida Derby (G1)
After finishing second in the Feb. 1 Holy Bull (G3), Tappan Street was withheld from the March 1 Coolmore Fountain of Youth (G2) at Gulfstream in favor of returning eight weeks later in the 74th running of the 1 1/8-mile tradition-rich Triple Crown prep.
Curlin Florida Derby starters have gone on to win the Kentucky Derby 25 times while collection 60 victories in Triple Crown races. Tappan Street earned his way into the 20-horse field for the May 3 Kentucky Derby with his victory in the Curlin Florida Derby, which offered Kentucky Derby qualifying points on a 100-50-25-15-10 scale to the first five finishers, respectively.
Tappan Street, who scored a debut victory Dec. 28 at Gulfstream before coming up a little short in the Holy Bull, was Saturday’s second-betting choice at 2-1 behind last-to-first Coolmore Fountain of Youth winner Sovereignty, who was sent to post as the 8-5 morning-line favorite in a field of 10 assembled for the Curlin Florida Derby, which closed out a 14-race program with 10 stakes, five graded in grand fashion.
“This is a step forward today. His numbers in 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, enabling 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 far turn as Indecisiveness dropped back and Tappan Street began to advance under Luis Saez with Madaket 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 stretch challenge from Tappan Road, who drew away to his first stakes victory while earning Grade 1 credentials. Sovereignty Road 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 ½ lengths farther back.
“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.”
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.”
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,” he added. “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 Curlin Florida Derby winner, got away from the starting gate last of 10 and finished fifth as the 3-1 third betting choice. Madaket Road faded to fourth, 1 ½ 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.”
