Gulfstream: Tappan Street Propels Forward in G1 Curlin Florida Derby

By David Joseph —-

Nicole Thomas Photo
Tappan Street Propels Forward in G1 Curlin Florida Derby

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – 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 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 Sovereignty 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.”

Disrupter, 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.”

$1 MILLION CURLIN FLORIDA DERBY (G1) QUOTES

Winning Time: 1:49.27

Winning Margins: 1 ¼, 2 ¾, 1 ½

Winning Payoff: $6.80

Fractions: :23.37, :47.22, 1:11.61, 1:36.59

Order of finish: Tappan Street, Sovereignty, Neoequos, Madaket Road, Disruptor, Jimmy’s Dailys, Indecisiveness, Cool Intentions, Smoken Boy, Enterdadragon

Elliott Walden, President, CEO & Racing Manager, WinStar Farm (Tappan Street, 1st): “He really ran like we thought he would. We’ve given him the time after the Holy Bull because we thought he was this type of horse, and it was nice for him to show up. He’s taken that step now and I think he’s going to be a very live horse going into the Kentucky Derby.”

Trainer Brad Cox (Tappan Street, 1st): “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. 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.”

“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. 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.”

“[Jockey] Luis [Saez] was very high on him after he broke his maiden. He was very high on him after the Holy Bull. He had a lot of confidence in him and it all came together today.”

“This is a step forward today. His numbers his first two starts were really good. I felt like the two-month lead up to the Florida Derby would propel him forward.”

Jockey Luis Saez (Tappan Street 1st): “Everything went to plan. He broke from there pretty well. He was in good position. The whole way I had a lot of horse. We knew the speed was inside and we followed the speed. Everything came out perfect. 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]. 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.”

“I think it’s [Kentucky Derby] going to be a perfect race for him because he can sit anywhere. He can break and let the speed go, or he can be right there on the pace. It’s a good horse to be around. We had a good feeling about this horse from the first time I rode him. Today he proved he was a super horse.”

“It would be the best. The Kentucky Derby for us is going to be everything. [Winning it] would be sweet.”

Trainer Bill Mott (Sovereignty, 2nd): “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. [Jockey Manny 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. 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. 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.”

Jockey Manny Franco (Sovereignty, 2nd): “I had a really good trip. I rode the horse the way he likes to run. I told [trainer] Bill [Mott] at two points he just didn’t get over the track. He bobbled on me and lost his stride. At that point I think I lost a little momentum to get him into the bridle again, into the rhythm, but he finished running. He’s going to be a good horse going forward.”

“From the three-eighths pole he did it, and going to the quarter pole. I feel like he disappeared on me a little bit. But that’s the way it is. He kicked home anyway. When I hit the clear he was gaining ground.”

Jockey Edgard Zayas (Neoequos, 3rd): “He ran a huge race. We got the trip we wanted. He set up perfect in a stalking position. We were able to slow the pace and he was great. He really finished up pretty nice. We wanted to get running out of there and then kind of get running to the outside and after that, if I had the horse, get it done.”

Jockey Mike Smith (Madaket Road, 4th): “Right now I just felt like it was a bit far. It wasn’t like I went overly fast. I thought we got away really well and put him in a great place to kick on. Let me tell you something, those two or three horses in front of us are serious, man, because I was running. I could hear him and I could feel him, and it was getting to him a little bit, but it’s not because of a lack of try. He still kicked.”

Trainer Todd Pletcher (Disruptor, 5th): “We blew it at the start, came away last. I thought he ran really well considering it was only his third start to make up a lot of ground.”

Jockey Joel Rosario (Jimmy’s Dailys, 6th): “He had a good trip. It just looked like he was going to do something turning for home and then he got a little tired. The horses in front just kept running. For a little while it looked like we were going to be fine, but the mile and an eighth kind of tired him out.”

Jockey Jorge Ruiz (Indecisiveness, 7th): “He break sharp from the gate and I tried to relax him but he was very strong. I was closer than I expected but he was very excited.”

Trainer Jorge Delgado (Cool Intentions, 8th): “He was coming off the layoff and I know it was a challenging spot being a Grade 1, but I was hoping to see a better effort. I think when the kickback hit his face he kind of went from 10 to zero. He was too far back. We might have a chance to go on the grass and probably shorten the distance. It’s a long season. He’s a 3-year-old with five starts, so we have plenty of options.”

Jockey Javier Castellano (Cool Intentions, 8th): “I had a good trip. We broke out of the gate and got a good position in the first turn. I loved my spot. I think the key part with my horse was he didn’t like and appreciate the dirt in his face, and I started to lose my position. I felt like I had to give him a little break and I put him in the clear on the backside. He was traveling so good. My target was [Sovereignty]. I followed him but he couldn’t keep up.”

Jockey Dylan Davis (Enterdadragon, 10th): “We were going back to the dirt from the grass, and we were just trying to keep his face clean. He just really didn’t show much on the dirt, so we’re going to go back to the turf with him. They’re running him at Keeneland next start. It depends on what’s going on with Keeneland and New York, I’m doing both tracks, but I’d like to stay with him. He’s a really nice horse.”

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