Tapit’s latest record-setting year atop the North American sire ranks was led by Frosted, who dazzled the racing world with a romp in the Metropolitan Handicap that earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 123 – the highest number of the year.
But Tapit, who commands the highest fee on the continent at $300,000, has a stablemate in the Gainesway stallion complex who quietly put together a solid year based on Beyers in 2016.
It’s no revelation to say European-sired horses tend to have a natural advantage in North American turf races over their domestic contemporaries.
The major racing jurisdictions on the other side of the pond breed almost exclusively for the grass, and the above-average European runners regularly travel to North America to become forces in graded stakes races.
Tapit continues to set the bar higher for himself as he reigns atop the North American sire charts.
Tapit broke his own single-season progeny earnings record in 2016, establishing a new mark for the third consecutive year by leading Kentucky’s stallions with a bankroll of $19,896,996 – more than $7 million ahead of his closest pursuer, Curlin, with $12,772,052. Along the way, he surpassed a milestone in career earnings and notched a rare accomplishment in top-level company.
The big gray colt had just served notice that he was sitting on a big season. Against just two rivals who cared to challenge him in the Olympic Handicap, he coasted by four lengths. He was expected to be a favorite in the Grade 1 Donn Handicap.
The string of announcements from Kentucky farms ushering stallions to a better fit in regional or international markets is a common sight in the months between breeding seasons.
Less common is the stallion who gets a call-up to the North American breeding industry’s major leagues and settles into a stall in the Bluegrass State after entering stud in another market.
In a year with several outstanding fillies and mares on the track, some of the most brilliant propelled their respective sires atop the rankings of Kentucky stallions by percentage of individual runners earning triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures.
A visitor to Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms in recent years would have found the number 114 inescapable.
The three digits adorn baseball caps, posters, print advertisements, and Hill ‘n’ Dale-branded jackets, begging onlookers to inquire about the meaning.
Those who ask learn that the number is what makes the young stallion Maclean’s Music special.
Finnegans Wake, a Grade 1 winner who earned more than $1.5 million, will enter stud at Ballena Vista Farm in Ramona, Calif., next month.
Finnegans Wake will stand for $3,500. Owner Gary Hartunian has retained ownership through his Rockingham Ranch stable.
An 8-year-old by the Sadler’s Wells stallion Powerscourt, Finnegans Wake won 8 of 37 starts and earned $1,594,665 in a six-season campaign from 2011 to 2016 for Jerry Crawford’s Donegal Ranch and later in partnership with Hartunian.
