Taptowne arrives early for Texas Mile

Nominations for the Grade 3, $200,000 Texas Mile on April 26 don’t close until Thursday, but one invader for the race, Taptowne, is already on the Lone Star backstretch, readying for a start.

A homebred multiple stakes winner of more than $657,000 owned by Clovertown Farm, he finished third in the March 15 Razorback Handicap in his seasonal debut at Oaklawn Park, where he was based this winter. But rather than race him back in the Oaklawn Handicap, where he would have faced Will Take Charge and Revolutionary, his connections opted to ship him to Lone Star for the Texas Mile.

“The owners still own the majority of the mare and would like to see him win a graded stake if possible,” said trainer Tim Glyshaw, who was at Lone Star on Tuesday to watch Taptowne gallop. “While I doubt the Texas Mile will be an easy race, it should be easier than the Oaklawn Handicap.”

Taptowne arrived Sunday at Lone Star, almost two weeks before the Texas Mile, but his early ship-in had more to do with traveling logistics than getting training over the local surface.

Glyshaw felt it would be counterproductive to ship Taptowne from Oaklawn to his spring base at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., only to van him back down to Texas a short while later.

Glyshaw was set to drive to Louisville later Tuesday to join the rest of his horses, while leaving an experienced groom behind to care for Taptowne. The horse will have a breeze at Lone Star later this week, Glyshaw said.

Calvin Borel has the mount in the Texas Mile, he said.