Gargan regrouping with Tax

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Danny Gargan was thinking it was Tax time last weekend, but nope, not yet. His stable star came up empty in the Pegasus World Cup, and now it’s time to figure out what’s next.

“I’m pretty much at a loss to explain how he ran like he did,” Gargan said Friday, six days after Tax finished 10th of 12 in the $3 million Pegasus at Gulfstream Park. “Maybe he bounced off his lifetime top, I don’t know. You’re always disappointed when they run like that.”

Tax was the 5-l third choice in the Pegasus. He was racing less than two lengths behind the front-running winner, Knicks Go, leaving the half-mile pole. Midway through the final turn, however, it became evident that Tax was spinning his wheels, and the 5-year-old gelding faded to finish 14 lengths behind Knicks Go.

“He may’ve had a spot of mucus afterward, but it’s my understanding that it wasn’t all that significant,” said Dean Reeves, who owns Tax with Randy Hill and Hugh Lynch. “He didn’t bleed, which is good.”

The anti-bleeder medication Lasix is banned from all Gulfstream stakes, effective Jan. 1.

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Tax had earned a career-high 105 Beyer Speed Figure with a 4 1/2-length romp in his prior start, the Dec. 12 Harlan’s Holiday at Gulfstream. Gargan was confident before the Pegasus that the Harlan’s Holiday signaled a real breakthrough – one that placed Tax in the top echelon of the older-horse division – and that six weeks between starts was sufficient, but clearly the Pegasus (and an 87 Beyer) amounted to a major regression.

Gargan said Tax came out of the Pegasus in good shape and is back training at his Palm Meadows base. The trainer added he will “come up with a spot for him in time.”

“Nobody ever said this was an easy game,” he said. “We’ll dust ourselves off and look forward to the next one.”