TDN AMERICA TODAY the G1 Coronation S
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SATURDAY, JUNE 19, 2021 THIS SIDE UP: TAPWRIT WELL-REPRESENTED BY FIRST YEARLINGS AT FASIG-TIPTON JULY THE ONE THING TO by Katie Ritz After >TDN Rising Star' Essential Quality's sound victory in the ENVY MOST AT ASCOT GI Belmont S., his sire Tapit became one of only two stallions in history to produce four winners of that Classic test. In doing so, the champion sire did one of his other Belmont-winning sons, this one also a fellow Gainesway stallion, a favor by reinforcing the market's every-growing esteem for Tapit bloodlines. The achievements of Essential Quality and Tapit came at just the right time for Tapwrit (Tapit--Appealing Zophie, by Successful Appeal), who will have his first crop of yearlings hit the market this year. "Certainly Tapit's status in the Kentucky stallion ranks and the all-time ranks of stallions keeps getting elevated every year," Gainesway's Sean Tugel said. Cont. p5 IN TDN EUROPE TODAY Royal Ascot | Horsephotos ALCOHOL FREE TOAST OF THE CORONATION After being denied victory earlier on the card, Oisin Murphy by Chris McGrath bounced back to win aboard Alcohol Free in Royal Ascot's It is as true to say that Americans and Europeans are united by G1 Coronation S. Friday. Click or tap here to go straight to TDN an ocean as divided by one. And while horsemen are often Europe. considered insular, their transatlantic engagement--fluctuating but perennial--means that they always have things to learn from one another. In recent times, contrary to European prejudice, it is the Americans who have been more willing to leave their comfort zone. Whereas not even Coolmore have lately been rolling the dice on the dirt at the Breeders' Cup, American raiders have increasingly enriched the pageant of Royal Ascot. And while doing so won't generally involve a formal switch of surface, just tell that to Tepin (Bernstein) after she won over a straight mile of mud. But while they say that travel broadens the mind, both camps must remain wary of hasty judgements in what remain relatively fleeting encounters. When they see Wesley Ward's runners blazing away in front, for instance, the locals don't simply perceive differences in the education of horses. Instead they feel vindicated in a vexing misapprehension that Americans breed for one-dimensional speed. Cont. p3 PUBLISHER & CEO Sue Morris Finley @suefinley [email protected] SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT Gary King @garykingTDN [email protected] EDITORIAL [email protected] Editor-in-Chief Jessica Martini @JessMartiniTDN Senior Contributing Editor Saturday, June 19, 2021 Alan Carasso @EquinealTDN Senior Editor Steve Sherack @SteveSherackTDN Racing Editor Brian DiDonato @BDiDonatoTDN Deputy Editor Christie DeBernardis @CDeBernardisTDN Associate Editors Christina Bossinakis @CBossTDN Joe Bianca @JBiancaTDN News and Features Editor In Memoriam: Ben Massam (1988-2019) ADVERTISING [email protected] Director of Advertising Alycia Borer Advertising Manager Lia Best Advertising Designer Amanda Crelin Advertising Project Manager Rachel McCaffrey Advertising Assistants Amie Newcomb Kristen Lomasson Team Campanelle celebrates after Stonestreet Stables's 3-year-old filly was elevated to Photographer/Photo Editor Sarah K. Andrew @SarahKAndrew victory after suffering interference in the G1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot. See [email protected] TDN Europe for full coverage of the Royal Meeting. | PA Media Social Media Strategist Justina Severni Associate Producer STORMY ATLANTIC PENSIONED 7 Katie Ritz The 27-year-old Hill 'n' Dale stallion Stormy Atlantic has Director of Customer Service been pensioned from stud duty. Vicki Forbes [email protected] TODAY’S GRADED STAKES Marketing Manager ET Race Click for TV Alayna Cullen @AlaynaCullen 10:05a Jersey S.-G3, ASC -------------- TVG/NBC 10:40a Hardwicke S.-G2, ASC -------------- TVG/NBC Chief Financial Officer Ray Villa 11:20a Diamond Jubilee S.-G1, ASC -------------- TVG/CNBC [email protected] 5:31p Whimsical S.-GIII, WO TJCIS PPs TVG [email protected] 9:29p San Juan Capistrano S.-GIII, SA TJCIS PPs TVG WORLDWIDE INFORMATION International Editor Kelsey Riley @kelseynrileyTDN [email protected] European Editor Emma Berry [email protected] Associate International Editor Heather Anderson @HLAndersonTDN Newmarket Bureau, Cafe Racing Sean Cronin & Tom Frary [email protected] 60 Broad Street, Suite 100 Red Bank, NJ 07701 732-747-8060 | www.TheTDN.com TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 3 OF 8 • THETDN.COM SATURDAY • JUNE 19, 2021 Cont. from p1 As they say in England: "Give a dog a bad name and hang him." The paradox is that speed, nowadays, is actually the obsession of Europe's commercial breeders--and American programs are increasingly tapping into that. Yet while doing so is yielding big results, both at Ascot and in a weaker turf program at home, it arguably risks exposing the speed-carrying American Thoroughbred to precisely those deficiencies that have diluted the Classic gene pool in Europe. The 2018 Arlington Million | Coady But that, by now, is doubtless a wearily familiar complaint. So perhaps a more pertinent reflection on Ascot week, this year, relates to the setting itself. For the grandstand, majestic even when not yet revitalized by full capacity, actually owes something to a less obvious cross-pollination. When the Ascot team looked around the world for inspiration, one of the places that made the deepest impression was Arlington Park. Here, they felt, was a facility that maximized respect for both participants pivotal to the sustainability of our sport: the racehorse, and the fan. Make no mistake, Arlington was long viewed--both in its reconstruction and operation--as one of America's exemplary contributions to the global turf. In staging the first seven-figure race in 1981, with the express hope of nourishing overseas competition, Arlington pioneered a path for the Breeders' Cup and, indeed, for the Royal Ascot of the modern era. Cont. p4 TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 8 • THETDN.COM SATURDAY • JUNE 19, 2021 This Side Up cont. And these formative experiences, for the international sport, were replicated on a more intimate scale. As one of many Europeans to have first fallen in love with the American turf in Chicago, I'm delighted that our host in those halcyon days, Richard L. Duchossois, is being suitably honored in his 100th year by the renaming of the Million (its purse instructively deflated) as the Mister D. S. And I'm devastated that this global flagship for prioritizing public engagement with the sport should now stand on the brink of wilful scuttling. We know that a serious offer has been tabled for the track's redemption. But we also know, now, that the Bears are really in the game. And, regardless, even the highest offer would not necessarily suffice to prevent the sellers from stifling competition to their nearby casino or any other investments they may plan for this neighborhood. It's silly to call this greed. Churchills Downs Inc. Is no more (nor less) heartless than any other big corporation whose one and only purpose is to make money for its stockholders. Despite custody of the iconic twin spires, their only interest in sporting heritage will be in its commercialization. The Royal Procession at Royal Ascot | Horsephotos I'm often assured by people who would know that CDI has people of the right caliber to ensure the prosperity of such racetracks as do fit into their plans. But with so many jewels of the American turf at the mercy of the ruthless functioning of capitalism, whether at CDI or elsewhere, then the real challenge to emulate Britain is not in breeding grass sprinters. It's whether racetrack ownership can somehow become stewardship. The Queen and her heirs aren't going to be selling Ascot for condos and malls any time soon. Epsom and Newmarket, similarly, are owned by Jockey Club Racecourses. Obviously the model isn't invulnerable, as the past travails of NYRA demonstrate. TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 5 OF 8 • THETDN.COM SATURDAY • JUNE 19, 2021 This Side Up cont. for sure. However things play out at Arlington, this won't be the last time a storied racetrack is put up for sale. With so few players in the game, it's hard to be confident that any of them won't just pick up the ball and go home. We need to find a way to persuade them at least to sell us the ball first. Tapwrit cont. from p1 Tugel continued, "He has produced four outstanding winners of the Test of the Champion, with Tapwrit being one of them, which was exciting because Tapwrit was able to break his maiden as a 2-year-old and be a 2-year-old stakes winner, but also carry that speed and precocity to go a mile and a half and win a very impressive Belmont S." Arlington Million Day 2017 | Coady Essential Quality and Tapwrit are Tapit's only Belmont winners to also be stakes winners at two. The other pair, Tonalist and In principle, however, putting all profits back into the business Creator, did not break their maiden until early in their should always create a product that will commercially sophomore year. outperform the soulless gaming factories. For while corporate analysts renounce racetracks as "legacy business", with dinosaur demographics, the example of Ascot might suggest a couple of alternative thoughts. One is that conserving and investing in something that can't be measured on the balance sheet--heritage--can actually help to make a racetrack viable; that "legacy" can itself be "business". The other is that if private track operators won't buy into that theory, then can horsemen devise a way to prove it themselves? Not easy. But was it easy to overcome vested interests for the modern industry's game-changing communal achievement, the Breeders' Cup? When the stakes are this high, we have a duty to future generations at least to be able to say that we tried.