Tacitus Seeks Elusive Grade 1 Win in Jockey Club Gold
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ftboa.com • Saturday & Sunday • October 10 & 11, 2020 FEC/FTBOA PUBLICATION In This Issue: Credit River More Than Ready Magic Attitude Headlines Field of Nine Saratoga Turf Stars Battle for BC Spot Momos to Make Turf Debut in Futurity Armistice Day Looks for Another Cup Galilean Heads California Flag ‘Cap OJC Teams with RRP for Auction Gulfstream Park West Charts Track Results & Entries Florida Stallion Progeny List Florida Breeders’ List Wire to Wire Business Place Tacitus/JOE LABOZZETTA PHOTO Tacitus Seeks Elusive Grade 1 Featured Advertisers Baoma Corp. Win in Jockey Club Gold Cup Bloodstockauction USA Covert Appraisal Services The Jockey Club Gold Cup is a BY RYAN MARTIN, EnviroEquine LLC NYRA PRESS OFFICE______________ Breeders' Cup "Win And You're In" quali- fier offering an automatic entry into the $6 Florida Department of Agriculture ELMONT, NY—Juddmonte Farms' three- million Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) on Fred Burton Paving time graded stakes-winning multimillion- Nov. 7 at Keeneland. FTBOA aire Tacitus will look to secure his first The prestigious race is one of five grad- Ocala Breeders’ Feed & Supply career Grade 1 triumph in Saturday's ed stakes on Saturday's action-packed pro- Peterson & Smith 102nd running of the $250,000 Jockey gram, which also includes three other Seminole Feed Club Gold Cup (Grade 1) going the classic "Win And You're In" qualifying events Showcase Properties distance of a mile-and-one-quarter at along with the $250,000 Flower Bowl (G1) Summerfield Sales Belmont Park. See BELMONT on page 3 Back to Top Page 3 Belmont Continued from COVER for fillies and mares going a mile-and-a-quarter on the inner turf, offering a berth in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1); the Grade 1, $300,000 Champagne Stakes for juvenile colts going one mile on the main track, providing a spot in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1); and the $250,000 Frizette (G1) for juvenile fillies going one mile on the main track, a qualifier for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1). The lucrative card is bolstered by the $150,000 Sands Point Stakes (G2) for sophomore fillies going one mile over the Widener turf. Since its inception in 1919, the Jockey Club Gold Cup has been one of the most prestigious events on the racing calendar having been won by Hall of Famers Man o' War [1920], Hill Prince [1950], Nashua [1955-56], Sword Dancer [1959], Buckpasser [1966], Damascus [1967], Forego [1974], John Henry [1981], Easy Goer [1989], Cigar [1995], Florida-bred Skip Away [1996-97] and Curlin [2007-08]. The great Kelso won the Jockey Club Gold Cup a record five straight years from 1960-64. Nine Kentucky Derby win- ners have won the prized event, including Triple Crown winners Gallant Fox [1930], Whirlaway [1942], Citation [1948] and Florida- bred Affirmed [1979]. Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, a three-time Jockey Club Gold Cup win- ner, Tacitus was third in last Bill Mott/COADY PHOTO year's edition and was most recently second as the favorite in the Grade 1 Woodward on Sept. 5 at Saratoga, where he chased a slow pace tracking a half-length off Global Campaign but was unable to catch the pacesetter, who strolled home a length-and-three- quarters winner. The 4-year-old son of Tapit out of 2014 champion older mare Close Hatches made some noise on last year's Kentucky Derby trail with scores in the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby and the Grade 2 Wood Memorial en route to being elevated to third in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby. He followed with three runner-up finishes as the favorite, including a late-closing second in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes and the Grade 2 Jim Dandy ahead of a prominent effort in the Grade 1 Runhappy Travers. Two starts following an international endeavor in his 2020 debut when fifth in the Group 1 Saudi Cup on Feb. 29 in Saudi Arabia, Tacitus added another graded stakes triumph to his ledger with an eight-and-three-quarters-length runaway win in the Grade 2 Suburban on July 4 at Belmont Park, which also is contested at the classic distance. Tacitus has trained forwardly heading into Saturday's race, recently posting a half-mile drill in :47.20 on Oct. 4 - the fastest of 77 recorded works at the distance. Mott said he has no regrets regarding Tacitus' race tactics in the Woodward. "Looking back, I don't think we did anything wrong," Mott said. "The horse that beat him just ran a very good race. The only thing we could have tried differently, and I don't know that it See BELMONT on page 5 Back to Top Back to Top Page 5 Belmont page 3 Continued from would have changed the outcome, was maybe go to that horse [Global Campaign] right away from the gate. I don't know that it would have changed any- thing. You sure weren't going to take him back more, the only thing would have been going on the attack early." Jockey Jose Ortiz, aboard for all three of Tacitus' graded stakes victo- ries, will ride once more, drawing post four. The Jockey Club Gold Cup has had a long history of sophomores besting their elders in the event, and a pair of 3-year-olds will be making their debut against older horses this year with Godolphin's graded stakes- winner Mystic Guide and Wertheimer and Frere's unbeaten Happy Saver. Trained by Michael Mystic Guide/SUSIE RAISHER PHOTO Stidham, Mystic Guide from post five. day fall meet on FOX Sports and MSG bypassed last Saturday's Preakness Stakes Also set for the Jockey Club Gold Cup Networks. (G1) in favor of the Jockey Club Gold Cup. are Prioritize, Name Changer and Happy He was a last out winner of the Grade 2 Saver. Jim Dandy Stakes on Sept. 5 at Saratoga, The Jockey Club Gold Cup is slated as Correction which was his only start where he was not On page 3 of the Friday edition of the ninth race on Saturday's 11-race pro- Wire to Wire, the sire of Jakarta was made the favorite. gram, which offers a first post of 12:20 The well-bred chestnut son of referred to as Bustin Shoes as opposed p.m. ET. America's Day at the Races will to Bustin Stones. We regret the error. Ghostzapper out of four-time Grade 1-win- present daily television coverage of the 27- ner Music Note has never finished off the board in five lifetime starts including a five-length triumph at second asking in his two-turn debut on March 21 at Fair Grounds. He was subsequently beaten by the same margin in his next effort against winners going a one-turn mile-and-a-six- teenth at Belmont to Florida-bred Tap It to Win before finishing third in the Grade 3 Peter Pan on July 16 at the Spa. Mystic Guide registered a career-best 95 Beyer from his Jim Dandy score. The return to winning form was likely due to the addition of blinkers, according to Jimmy Bell who manages Godolphin's USA division. Bell said he is looking forward to seeing what the lightly-raced Mystic Guide can show as a 4-year-old and that he should rel- ish the mile-and-one-quarter. Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez, a three-time winner of the Jockey Club Gold, will pilot Mystic Guide for the first time Back to Top Mucho Macho Man (2013) World Approval (2017) Musical Romance (2011) Caledonia Road (2017) Little Mike (2012) FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FLORIDA THOROUGHBRED BREEDERS’ AND CONSUMER SERVICES AND OWNERS’ ASSOCIATION Nicole “Nikki” Fried, Commissioner Lonny T. Powell, CEO Division of Marketing and Development Tammy A. Gantt, Associate Vice President For Information: (850) 617-7286 Membership Services & Events www.FDACS.gov 352-629-2160 • Fax: 352-629-3603 801 SW 60th Ave. • Ocala, FL 34474 www.ftboa.com • [email protected] LITTLE MIKE/BENOIT; WORLD APPROVAL/MICHAEL BURNS; MUCHO MACHO MAN/COGLIANESE; MUSICAL ROMANCE/COGLIANESE; CALEDONIA ROAD/ECLIPSE SPORTSWIRE Back to Top Page 7 Credit River More Than Ready for Cup & Saucer Stakes Challenge BY WOODBINE PRESS OFFICE ____ TORONTO—Trainer Breeda Hayes is hoping for an encore perform- ance from Credit River in Saturday’s $250,000 Cup & Saucer Stakes, at Woodbine. A mile-and-one-six- teenth event for Canadian-bred 2-year- olds run over the E.P. Taylor Turf Course, the 84th running of the Cup & Saucer has drawn nine starters, including Credit River, an Ontario-bred son of More Than Ready. Bred and owned by Garnet Williamson’s Hillsbrook Farms, the colt had a dazzling debut in the $135,000 Ontario Racing Stakes on Sept. 19 at Woodbine. Credit River/BURNS PHOTO Under Emma-Jayne Wilson—who’ll be aboard again his first race. He’s coming into this race in great form. He is a Saturday—the grey outran his 41-1 odds in grand style in the bit of punk. He dropped me—I’d say it was more than eight second running of the five-furlong inner turf stakes for 2-year- weeks ago—and I landed on a fan after galloping him. All of a olds. sudden, he exploded. Something must have caught his eye, or "It was a tough task and a tall task—I mean, a first-time somebody moved something, and I wasn’t ready for him. That’s starter—but he showed his talent,” Wilson said about the why Johnny [Hayes’ husband] has been galloping him since.