Tapit Shoes confirmed for Belmont Stakes
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ELMONT, N.Y. – Tapit Shoes, second to Red Route One in the Bath House Row Stakes on April 22 at Oaklawn Park, was confirmed on Thursday as a starter for the Belmont Stakes on June 10 by trainer Brad Cox.
Tapit Shoes, a son of Tapit – who has produced four Belmont Stakes winners since 2014 – has just one win from five starts. He is owned by a partnership led by Spendthrift Farm and will be ridden in the race by Jose Ortiz, who won the 2017 Belmont aboard Tapwrit.
Tapit Shoes is a half-brother to Cyberknife, who won the Arkansas Derby and Haskell Invitational for Cox last year.
“I thought his last race at Oaklawn was very good,” Cox said of Tapit Shoes during a national teleconference on Thursday. “He sat close, a little bit closer than he had in his previous races. I think he’s a horse that is getting better the more he does it, a little bit like his brother Cyberknife. It took him a while to get everything to click and put it all together.”
Tapit Shoes will join stablemates Angel of Empire, third as the favorite in the Kentucky Derby, and Hit Show, fifth in the Kentucky Derby, as Cox-trained runners that will participate in the Belmont. All three horses are expected to work at Churchill Downs on Saturday and ship to New York on Monday.
Also, on that same conference call, trainer Jena Antonucci said that Arcangelo, the Peter Pan winner, came out of his Wednesday workout at Belmont in good order and will definitely be supplemented to the Belmont Stakes for a fee of $50,000.
Thus, a field of 10 is expected to be entered Tuesday when entries close and post positions are assigned for the 155th Belmont.
The field, with riders, is: Angel of Empire (Flavien Prat), Arcangelo (Javier Castellano), Forte (Irad Ortiz Jr.), Hit Show (Manny Franco), Il Miracolo (Marcos Meneses), National Treasure (John Velazquez), Raise Cain (Junior Alvarado), Red Route One (Joel Rosario), Tapit Shoes (Jose Ortiz), and Tapit Trice (Luis Saez).
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