TDN Weekend December 2016 Issue 9
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1045316
"As a 2-year-old, he was very much a talking horse," Beck recalls. "He won the Laurel Futurity remarkably easily. There was a horse in the field that was supposed to be blindingly fast, but Tapit annihilat- ed him. I feel he never truly demonstrated the extent of his ability. "What I really liked about him, actually like Karakontie, was a fe- male family that produced horses better as stallions than they were as racehorses: Relaunch, Rubiano. That excited me. And so did (dam- sire) Unbridled, who had started his career at Gainesway. Because both were horses with phenomenal speed who also got a mile and a quarter. As a young 4-year-old Unbridled beat Housebuster, easily the best sprinter of his generation, over seven at Gulfstream—an extremely impressive performance for a Derby and Breeders' Cup Classic winner. That Unbridled blood is truly exceptional. And then of course Tapit's by Pulpit, himself a remarkably well-bred horse and a son of another one in A.P. Indy." Put that way, easy enough for the rest of us to grasp now. At the time, however, few could have predicted that Tapit might be en- dowed with the classic hallmark of stretching his stock's speed—to the extent of siring three Belmont winners in four years, the one exception being when his son Frosted was thwarted only by the first Triple Crown winner since 1978. "Tapit has worked with everything," marvels Beck. "Every single bloodline has been enhanced with his genetic superiority. Look at the pedigree of a horse like Hansen, where you have four blank dams and there really is nothing on the page. Tapit has this incredible abil- ity to pass on very good actions to his progeny, as well as phenome- nally powerful cardiovasculars. I think those are such important in- gredients that the Tapit combination works with any bloodline, any athlete. It's truly remarkable." Already, then, Beck is guaranteed a key chapter in the ongoing, epic history of these paddocks and barns. True, it is never easy to predict the future—whether for this farm in particular, or for the sport in general. Beck gives his time to many industry bodies, and admits to some anxiety about the demographic profile of the racing public, especially away from Saratoga, Del Mar, and Keeneland. He