Souper Tapit challenges elders for lack of better option

The highest-class fare on a 10-race Monday card at Fair Grounds is race 9, a second-level turf-route allowance race, but the tastiest treat on the program comes one race earlier. Race 8 is a first-level allowance at a mile and 70 yards on dirt, and it features two horses of particular interest.

One is Tom’s d’Etat, who makes his 4-year-old debut for owner G M B Racing and trainer Al Stall still packed with promise. The other is Souper Tapit, a somewhat late-debuting 3-year-old who still could hop onto the Triple Crown trail.

The race was written in the condition book for 4-year-olds and up but amended to accommodate 3-year-olds so Souper Tapit could start. The only 3-year-old in the race, Souper Tapit carries 114 pounds, five fewer than his older rivals. Trainer Mark Casse would have preferred to run Souper Tapit against his own age set, but a first-level allowance race for 3-year-olds failed to fill, and at this point, Souper Tapit just needs to run.

A Live Oak Plantation homebred by Tapit and out of the Grade 1 winner Zo Impressive, Souper Tapit did a lot of things wrong while debuting in a two-turn dirt race Feb. 18 but won anyway. He broke slowly, made a bold and wide move around the far turn to pass the entire field, waited on rivals after making the lead, and then rebroke to beat Multiplier. Souper Tapit galloped out powerfully and then tried to take jockey Florent Geroux straight out a gap on the backstretch and back to the barn. Souper Tapit has a lot to learn – and a lot of talent.

“I’m not happy about running against older horses, but we need some experience,” Casse said. “It was this, wait for the Louisiana Derby, or go someplace else. By running in this race, it gives us options. If he were to run really good, we could think about the Blue Grass or the Wood Memorial or the Arkansas Derby. If he runs good, not great, we could look at the Lexington, and if he doesn’t run that good, we can run against straight 3-year-olds in an allowance at Keeneland.”

Souper Tapit already has faced one talented older horse, Tour de Force, with whom he has been working. He will face another Monday in Tom’s d’Etat. Tom’s d’Etat has yet to really get traction in a three-start career, but he has shown ample talent. He ran well in a 1 1/4-mile maiden race, his second start and his first on dirt, last May at Churchill Downs and was impressive in winning a nine-furlong dirt maiden race by four lengths last August at Saratoga.

Stall said minor bone bruising forced Tom’s d’Etat out of training in September, but the colt is ready for his comeback.

“We’ve got a foundation under him, and he’s sharp. That five-eighths work was for real,” Stall said, referring to a breeze in 59 seconds from the gate Feb. 27. “He’s big, and I know this: He will run as far as they write them.”

On Monday, he just has to run a mile and 70 yards, and with a maturity edge on Souper Tapit, he is likely to run it fast enough to win.