Tacitus, with blinkers, returns to top form in Suburban

ELMONT, N.Y. -- There was both delight and disappointment in trainer Bill Mott’s voice after he watched Tacitus steamroll the competition by 8 3/4 lengths in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Suburban Stakes at Belmont Park.

While he was naturally delighted to see the talented colt deliver a dominant performance, he had hoped it would have occurred earlier this year in a race like the $20 million Saudi Cup or $12 million Dubai World Cup. Tacitus had finished fifth in the Saudi Cup and had shipped to Dubai before the Dubai World Cup was canceled due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We were looking for something like that in Dubai after he had run in Saudi, then they canceled the race,” Mott said. “This isn’t $12 million. We’re back to reality, I guess.”

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Mott can only hope this is the new reality for Tacitus, who had dropped seven straight races since winning the Grade 2 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct in April 2019. While he had run well in most of his races, he couldn’t finish the deal, running second in the Belmont Stakes, Jim Dandy, and Travers, and third in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.

Mott had tried blinkers twice last year on Tacitus but then took them off for his two starts this year. Following a fourth-place finish in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap, Mott introduced the blinkers again to Tacitus in his morning training and then put a couple of stiff workouts in him, including a half-mile move in 46.79 seconds last Sunday. That work was done in company with the 3-year-old filly Frank’s Rockette, who earlier on Saturday’s card won the Grade 3 Victory Ride.

“We put the heat to him a little bit training him up to this race and it paid off,” Mott said. “It was nice to see him draw way.”

The Suburban drew eight but went with six. Joevia was scratched early and longshot Forewarned was scratched at the gate after jockey Manny Franco informed the vet he didn’t like the way the horse was warming up.

Out of the gate, Parsimony, under Kendrick Carmouche, took the lead while pressed by Mr. Buff through comfortable fractions of 24.68 seconds for the quarter, 48.32 for the half, and 1:10.82 for six furlongs.

John Velazquez had Tacitus a joint third, inside of Moretti, ridden by Javier Castellano. Going into the turn, Moretti came down on Tacitus, who held his ground and then around the turn moved into third. Tacitus was just cruising to the front pair, then took over turning for home and drew away to the emphatic score.

Moretti got up for second by a neck over Parsimony. Just Whistle, Mr. Buff, and Sir Winston, the 2019 Belmont Stakes winner, completed the order of finish.

“He was going comfortable the whole way,” Velazquez said. “We had a little pressure in the first part of the race and little by little we kept reaching back and reaching back. I just wanted to be a little farther back. Once we passed the five-eighths pole, I put my hands down and he got into a great rhythm. From there on, I knew he was comfortable and in a position to win.”

Tacitus, a son of Tapit owned by Juddmonte Farms, covered the 1 1/4 miles in 1:59.51 and returned $4.20 to win. Tacitus earned a 100 Beyer Speed Figure, the third triple-digit Beyer of his career.

Mott, who won three races on Saturday’s card, said the Whitney on Aug. 1 or the Woodward, this year run at 1 1/4 miles, on Sept. 5, would be considered for Tacitus’s next start.