Pope's big purchase of Tapit Trice in 2021 paying dividends now
?q=100)
Mandy Pope, who breeds and races as Whisper Hill Farm, is known for being a major player at Thoroughbred auctions in North America. She was ready to play at a high level again when a yearling Tapit colt from the family of Eclipse Award champion Jaywalk stepped into the Keeneland September ring in 2021.
“I always try to set a realistic price, but Mandy has been known to push the envelope when she really likes a horse,” Whisper Hill manager Todd Quast said. “I knew who we were against, and I knew we had to stay strong.”
Pope ultimately went to $1.3 million for the colt, who is already paying her back in on-track success. Tapit Trice is the most expensive auction purchase likely to start in this year’s Kentucky Derby, and has earned his way into the field with consecutive victories in the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby and Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes for Pope and partner Gainesway, which bred the colt and consigned him at the Keeneland auction.
Pope, a native of North Carolina with a background in show jumping, made her living working with her family's Variety Wholesalers, which operates a chain of discount stores. She first ventured into Thoroughbreds working with breeding stock at Kinsman Stud and Heather Hill Farm before forming her Whisper Hill with her father, the late John Pope.
Pope, whose star-studded broodmare band includes Eclipse Award champions Havre de Grace (a $10 million auction purchase), Songbird ($9.5 million), and Groupie Doll ($3.1 million), among other major winners and producers, has had brushes with the Triple Crown. Whisper Hill bred and sold Sam P., third in the 2007 Santa Anita Derby before finishing ninth in the Kentucky Derby; and co-owned Mylute, who was second in the 2013 Louisiana Derby, fifth in Kentucky, and third in the Preakness. Last year, Pope’s homebred Charge It was second in the Florida Derby and 17th in the Kentucky Derby.
While cultivating her homebred program, Pope has also continued to buy young stock, buying a dozen yearlings, alone or in partnership, for a combined $7,885,000 between the last two editions of the flagship Keeneland September yearling sale. She often takes partners in colts to spread the risk. Gainesway, a partner with her on previous horses, was happy to retain a piece of the young Tapit Trice, bolstering Whisper Hill’s confidence in its assessment of the colt.
“He was very kind at the sale,” Quast said. “Very relaxed every time we went to the barn to look at him. We had been outbid on several horses earlier in the sale, so she was pretty determined to get this one. [Gainesway general manager] Brian Graves is a very good judge of horses, and he always felt that Tapit Trice was one of their best yearlings that year. For them to buy back into him gave us a lot of confidence and makes it more fun.”
Tapit Trice is by Gainesway’s leading sire Tapit – sire of four Belmont Stakes winners – and out of stakes winner Danzatrice, a half-sister to Jaywalk.
“It’s wonderful to be partners with Mandy,” Gainesway’s Antony Beck said. “It’s a great friendship. We both love, love horses; we both love the sport. Tapit has been an incredible stallion, and this is another one of his incredible horses. I also want to thank John Fort, who selected Danzatrice for me as a 2-year-old. Without that, we wouldn’t be here.”
So now it’s back to the Derby for Pope with another gray son of Tapit.
“It’s the determination that quality does pay off, and quality is worth all the effort,” Pope said. “From pedigree, to the physical, to the trainers, to the barn crew at each of our farms who raise the horses and break them – they’re all quality people and it’s a quality effort. Hopefully, quality continues up the road.”
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.