$2.5 million Tatweej takes on winners

Tatweej figures to make an impression when he walks into the paddock for the featured 10th race Saturday at Gulfstream Park.

But if one were to suggest he looks like a million bucks, it would be selling the horse short.

Tatweej brought $2.5 million at auction as a yearling. The son of Tapit and the Grade 1-winning mare Tiz Miz Sue was purchased by Shadwell Stable in 2017 at the Keeneland September sale.

“That is the best-looking horse we’ve ever bred,” said Ran Leonard, manager of Cres Ran LLC for his grandmother, Carol Ricks. “From Day 1, he never had a flaw. He just stood out and every day he would get better and better and better.”

Tatweej, a 4-year-old in training with Todd Pletcher, figures to go favored in Saturday’s first-level allowance that carries an optional claiming price of $25,000. It will be run at a one-turn mile, the same configuration the horse won over last out in a maiden special weight July 25 at Gulfstream.

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Tatweej, making his second start, withstood pace pressure early. After disposing of that rival he fought off another horse for a 3 3/4-length win under regular rider Edgard Zayas. The Beyer Speed Figure of 85 Tatweej earned is the best last-race number in the six-horse field Saturday.

His chief rivals include Hard Lighting, who comes off a ninth-place finish in the Grade 2 Blue Grass on July 11 at Keeneland; Glory of Florida, who was a winner at this level last out at Gulfstream; and Tap the Mojo, another son of Tapit out of a Grade 1-winning mare (Pool Land).

Tiz Miz Sue became a Grade 1 winner in the Ogden Phipps in 2013 at Belmont Park, lifting her career earnings to $1.1 million. She is a Cres Ran homebred and is boarded at Springhouse Farm in Kentucky.

“She’s doing great,” Leonard said. “She’s a great mom. She seems to throw her slightly stubborn attitude to all of her foals, and we fully project that, like her, they will continue to get better with age.”

Leonard said Tiz Miz Sue is in foal to Uncle Mo. He said she has a weanling filly by Into Mischief and a yearling colt by Curlin, with the latter set to sell next month at Keeneland.

“Our general model is to keep the fillies and sell the colts,” he said.

Leonard said an exception is the 2-year-old colt Tiz Life, who is Tiz Miz Sue’s foal by American Pharoah.

“He’s a big, strong colt, and we gave him extra time,” Leonard said. “He got to Steve Hobby a month ago at Churchill. He’s had two published works.”

Serein, a graded stakes-placed daughter of Tiz Miz Sue who was sold at auction, is set to run in an allowance this weekend in Japan. Leonard has been following her and also will be focused on Tatweej on Saturday.

“I’ll be yelling down the stretch just like I did his last race,” he said.