Trappe Shot is at the vanguard of the Tapit movement. He’s just the third son of leading sire Tapit at stud to have foals age 3 or older, and so far, so good. In his first crop, Trappe Shot will be represented by a Kentucky Derby starter in My Man Sam.

Grade 2 winner Trappe Shot was represented by his first foal on Jan. 15, a colt born at Blackstone Farm near Pine Grove, Pa.

The colt is out of the stakes-placed Broken Vow mare Return the Jewel. It is the family of Canadian champion Silken Cat and Grade 1 winner Mani Bhavan.

Trappe Shot scored his biggest career victory in the Grade 2 True North Handicap in 2011 at Belmont Park. The 6-year-old Tapit horse, who is also twice Grade 1 placed, retired with six wins from 12 starts for earnings of $703,884.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Four horses are stretching out in distance. Four horses are cutting back. The only member of Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile field who last ran at the distance was beaten 11 lengths.

Such is the dilemma facing handicappers when trying to come up with the winner of the $1 million Dirt Mile, which despite a boatload of defections – both expected and unexpected – came up an extremely competitive race. As it is run at Churchill Downs, the Dirt Mile is a one-turn race.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - And then there were twelve.

There were only 11 names on the list when pre-entries for the $1.5 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint were released late Wednesday morning, but that list grew to an even dozen less than two hours later after it was discovered that Trappe Shot’s name was omitted from the potential field due to a clerical error made by the Breeders’ Cup.

ELMONT, N.Y. – On a morning when 10 potential Breeders’ Cup horses worked at Belmont Park, none looked any better than Trappe Shot, who most likely will start in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 5 at Churchill Downs.

Though Trappe Shot has been pre-entered in both the Dirt Mile and the Sprint, McLaughlin said the Mile is the first preference. Part of his reasoning is that post position could come into play more in the Sprint than the Mile.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Kiaran McLaughlin was the only trainer present at Thursday’s traditional post position draw for Saturday’s 11-race program at Belmont Park. He let out an audible “yeah” when his 4-year-old colt Trappe Shot drew post 8 in the nine-horse field entered for the Grade 1, $350,000 Vosburgh Invitational.

In a six-furlong race loaded with speed, McLaughlin wanted Trappe Shot, who has a history of breaking slow and who runs from just off the pace, outside of the front-runners.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trappe Shot, the beaten favorite in the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap here Aug. 7, worked four furlongs in 49.72 seconds Thursday morning over the main track. He went in fractions of 12.84, 25.04, and galloped out five furlongs in 1:02.61.

Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin moved the work up by two days to avoid the wet weather. Showers turned the main track sloppy by the middle of Thursday’s card.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – At this time last year, the connections of Trappe Shot were painstakingly trying to determine if their best chance to win a Grade 1 race was going long or short. Though their choice of the Travers seemed to make sense – he did go off the favorite in the race – it turned out to be the wrong move, as Trappe Shot finished ninth of 10 in the 1 1/4-mile race.

Trappe Shot, the 8 1/2-length winner of the Grade 2 True North, will attempt to win his first Grade 1 stakes when he meets seven rivals in Sunday’s $250,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap at six furlongs at Saratoga.

Trappe Shot, trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, drew the outside post in the eight-horse field and will be ridden by John Velazquez.

The last time Trappe Shot raced at Saratoga, he finished ninth as the 7-2 favorite in the $1 million Travers Stakes going 1 1/4 miles. Since then, he is 2 for 2 at six furlongs.