Breakout Beyers: Tapit Trice has room to grow

Marcus Hersh|Dec 21, 2022

Tapit Trice took a while to make the races and finished third in his debut, but he put it together in his second start, this neck win Dec. 17 at Aqueduct, and looks like a colt with a future.

Each week in this space, the top Beyer performances by maiden winners will be featured and analyzed. Click here for a complete archive.

Tapit Trice

Dec. 17, 6th race Aqueduct, MdpWt85k
Beyer: 87
1 mile (muddy) 1:39.05 – 1st by a neck
b. c. 2, Tapit – Danzatrice, by Dunkirk
Auctions: Keeneland September yearling 2021 – $1.3 million
Owner: Whisper Hill Farm and Gainseway Stable
Trainer: Todd Pletcher
Breeder: Gainesway Thoroughbreds

It’s Aqueduct in December, it’s a muddy track, it’s a narrow win margin with a slow raw time – take all that into account, and still this was fairly impressive and quite encouraging. Take the massive auction price with a grain of salt since the breeder got back in on owning the colt, too, but still, the physical on the horse must have been strong. Took a good long time to make the races but showed spark rallying from the tail of a Nov. 6 Aqueduct one-turn maiden to nab third. That was a strong enough performance to merit a second start in Florida with the Pletcher string there,. Connections instead decided to keep Tapit Trice right at home for his second start, which began . . . slowly. His head cocked to the side, Tapit Trice showed no gate speed, requiring several strides to get his legs underneath him and actually begin racing. He did manage to get out of last within the first furlong, going along about a length behind a pack of six bending into the mile’s one turn. Under moderate urging, Tapit Trice swept three to four paths wide around the turn, the willing, sustained run propelling him to a joint second at the quarter pole. The leader had plenty left and held firm to the furlong ground despite failing to change leads, but Tapit Trice always looked like he was going past and did, the place horse finishing nearly five lengths clear of show. It would be nice if NYRA would put a little more effort into the video presentation of gallop-outs, but from what we could see, Tapit Trice’s was encouraging, the colt pulling up with his ears pricked, still looking fresh and playful, like a talented young horse still learning the ropes. Second foal from a dam who was stakes quality in short routes, and stamina looks like no issue for her son.

Communication Memo

Dec. 16, 6th race Oaklawn, MdSpWt90k
Beyer: 78
1 mile 1:39.14 – 1st by 4 lengths
b. c. 2, Bolt d’Oro – Take a Memo, by Empire Maker
Auctions: Keeneland November breeding stock 2020 - $120,000; Fasig Tipton select yearling Saratoga 2021 – $235,000 (RNA); Fasig Tipton March select 2yo 2022 – $340,000 (RNA); OBS 2yo and horses of racing age 2022 – $370,000 (RNA)
Owner: William Heiligbrodt, Corinne Heiligbrodt, Whispering Hill Farm, Jackpot Farm
Trainer: Steve Asmussen
Breeder: Adrian Regan and Fergus Galvin

Analyzing form and betting horses simply is a complicated task – especially when you often should not trust your eyes. Watching this two-turn maiden mile from Oaklawn, we saw 6-5 shot Communication Memo stalk pacesetting 6-5 shot Rocket and Roll, collar him approaching the short homestretch (the race ended at the sixteenth pole) and appear to finish with good energy drawing away to a four-length win. Maybe the energy was good relative to the most of the 11 horses in the race, but on the clock, Communication Memo was finishing with far less than a flourish. This turned out to be a radically fast early/slow late race shape: Communication Memo went his first two quarter-miles in 23.09 and 24.27 but required 26.29 to cover the last quarter. That’s not to indict the colt; generally speaking, this is how American dirt races are run, and 2-year-olds going two turns on a demanding surface are going to be especially susceptible to late-race fatigue. This was Communication Memo’s fourth start, but the colt was racing beyond a sprint for the first time and had good form coming in. Crazily, Communication Memo ran in three maiden heats won by Brad Cox-trained horses (Loggins, Victory Formation, and Corona Bolt), and here beat another Cox horse, Rocket and Roll. Not spectacular, but a solid showing on which to build this winter.

Celestial Moon

Dec. 15, 8th race Aqueduct, MdSpWt85k
Beyer: 90
1 mile (good) 1:39.63 – 1st by 2 1/2 lengths
ch. c. 2, Malibu Moon – Global Hottie, by Dixie Chatter
Auctions: Keeneland September yearling 2020 – $160,000
Owner: Breeze Easy
Trainer: Bill Mott

Breeder: Brian Kahn and Taylor Brothers Properties

We’ll keep this brief because the colt is about to turn 4, making the 90 Beyer good but hardly Earth-shattering. However, Celestial Moon’s third career start was his first on dirt, and he’s trained by Bill Mott, who in October 1994 in an Aqueduct one-turn mile went turf to dirt with a 4-year-old second-level allowance horse named Cigar. Cigar’s Beyer went from 79 to 104 in the dirt switch; Celestial Moon’s pattern is two 72s on turf before this major jump on dirt.

DRF Headlines

View All