When the brilliant, unbeaten Flightline romped to an eight and a quarter length win in Saturday’s Gr1 Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic he added further gloss to his outstanding sire Tapit’s superb record at the Breeders’ Cup.
The now retired Flightline, who appears a certainty to be named North America’s Horse Of The Year for 2022, is his sire’s seventh Breeders’ Cup winner (and first Classic winner), with Tapit’s previous Breeders’ Cup winners coming in the form of Essential Quality (Juvenile), Hansen (Juvenile), Stardom Bound (Juvenile Fillies), Tapizar (Dirt Mile), Untapable (Distaff) and Tapitsfly (Juvenile Fillies Turf).
Flightline wins the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic on Breeders’ Cup Championship day (Pic -John Voorhees/Eclipse Sportswire/Breeders Cup)
Tapizar went on to make his mark on the Breeders’ Cup with his champion daughter Monomoy Girl victorious in the Gr1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff in both 2018 and 2020, while another son of Tapit, Flashback, sired 2019 Gr1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner British Idiom.
Tapit is also broodmare sire of Saturday’s Gr1 Big Ass Fans Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Cody’s Wish (Curlin) as well as Wicked Halo, who ran third in Saturday’s Gr1 Breeders’ Cup F&M Sprint.
Tapit is now the joint leading sire of Breeders’ Cup winners in total, along with More Than Ready.
However, Tapit’s prominence at stud rests not solely on his success in the Breeders’ Cup. His 150 plus stakes winners include a plethora of high-class performers notably the Belmont Stakes winners Creator, Tapwrit, Essential Quality and Tonalist. The latter made his presence felt this year when his son Country Grammer winning the G1 Dubai World Cup with Country Grammer to date having earned in excess of $11 000 000 in prize money.
Three times champion sire in North America, Tapit has had a good year once again in 2022, with Flightline one of nine stakes winners for the son of Pulpit so far.
Interestingly enough, Tapit’s Gr1 Breeders’ Cup Classic winning grandsire A.P. Indy also made a big impression at this year’s Breeders’ Cup meeting. A.P. Indy son Congrats is broodmare sire of Saturday’s surprise Gr1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner Caravel (Mizzen Mast), while A.P. Indy is himself damsire of 2022 Gr1 Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff queen Malathaat.
Tapit (Pulpit – Tap Your Heels)
Tapit’s Gr2 Amsterdam Stakes/Gr3 Bay Shore Stakes winning son Coup De Grace hit the headlines recently in South Africa when his son Anfields Rocket captured the Gr3 Allied Steelrode Graham Beck Stakes.
Tapit also left his mark in South Africa through his speedy son Rodney, winner of the 2017 Listed Umngeni Handicap.
