Tapit Trice makes emphatic return with Monmouth Cup triumph

OCEANPORT, N.J. – It took Tapit Trice more than seven months to make his 4-year-old debut. He came back running Saturday in the Monmouth Cup.

Racing wide on both turns after breaking from an outside post, winding up third down the backstretch. Tapit Trice cruised to the lead past the three-eighths pole, began drawing clear at the quarter pole while barely being asked by jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., and ran alone to the wire, winning the Grade 3, $400,000 Monmouth Cup by 5 1/4 lengths over favored Highland Falls.

Highland Falls, stalking the pace on the rail, put forth his typical grinding effort, eventually pushing past Counterspy, who had set a slow pace, to gain second by three-quarters of a length. Counterspy was three lengths better than fourth-place Khozeiress. Tapit Trice ran 1 1/8 miles over a fast track in 1:50.46 and paid $7.60 as the strong second choice. Tapit Trice was given a 101 Beyer Speed Figure.

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Not only did Tapit Trice take until mid-July to race at age 4, he hadn’t started since a third-place finish last August in the Travers Stakes. Foot problems caused trainer Todd Pletcher to scratch Tapit Trice from the Alysheba Stakes in May and the Blame Stakes in June, but Tapit Trice has been going well enough and long enough that Pletcher had him plenty fit to get the 1 1/8 miles off an 11-month layoff.

“He’s a willing horse to train. He’s a good work horse when you want him to be. For him, it’s probably easier to make a comeback in a race like this than in a six-furlong race. I thought it was an impressive performance off the layoff,” said Pletcher, who trains Tapit Trice for Whisper Hill Farm and the colt’s breeder, Gainesway Stable.

Tapit Trice won the Grade 1 Blue Grass at age 3 and was among the shorter prices in the 2023 Kentucky Derby, where he finished seventh. Tapit Trice at times last year looked like a grinder: He was smooth and dominant Saturday.

“He was traveling beautiful down the backside,” said Ortiz, who was happy to sacrifice ground loss for a clean trip. “He found himself, he took me there so comfortably. I let him be there and I let him be him.”

Tapit Trice is by Tapit out of Danzatrice, by Dunkirk. He won for the fifth time and joins Kingsbarns and Bright Future as leading older dirt-route horses in the Pletcher barn. The way he returned to the races Saturday, Tapit Trice might be their equal or better.

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