Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Another Derby prep for Tacitus
OLDSMAR, Fla. – Bill Mott wouldn’t have been able to wipe the smile off his face if he tried. The Hall of Fame trainer was absolutely beaming in the aftermath of the Tampa Bay Derby, ecstatic with the way Tacitus had just become his latest chance to win a Kentucky Derby.
“I’ve left out of Tampa too many times shaking my head,” Mott said Sunday, less than 24 hours after Tacitus rolled to victory in the annual showcase event at Tampa Bay Downs.
“I’d be walking out thinking, ‘What just happened there?’ It can be a little bit of a quirky racetrack,” he said. “For this colt to run like he did really made me happy. I’ve come to think that if a horse can run well over that Tampa surface, they can probably run over anything.”
The 1 1/4-length triumph in the 1 1/16-mile race by Tacitus, a Juddmonte Farms homebred ridden by Jose Ortiz, equated to a 93 Beyer Speed Figure from a finishing time of 1:41.90, which lowered the stakes record of 1:42.36 set two years ago by Tapwrit, also ridden by Ortiz. The gray colt earned 50 qualifying points toward the 145th Kentucky Derby, thereby assuring his eligibility while joining two other Motttrained colts, Country House and Hidden Scroll, as hopefuls for the May 4 race. All three will have one more prep, with Country House confirmed for the March 23 Louisiana Derby and Hidden Scroll likely for the March 30 Florida Derby.
Mott said “any of the three big ones” are options for Tacitus, those being the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct or the Blue Grass at Keeneland on April 6, or the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park on April 13. “We might wind up going to Aqueduct because he’s already run twice in New York, but we’ll see.”
Tacitus was racing for the first time since winning a Nov. 4 maiden race at Aqueduct. He entered with eight timed workouts at Mott’s main winter base, Payson Park, starting in early January.
“We’d been breezing him with some nice horses,” including Hidden Scroll, Mott said. “We were able to tick along with him and didn’t miss time with him. We’ve always liked this horse and we thought he could become a horse that could make the Derby trail.”
Tacitus is the first foal produced by Close Hatches, who Mott trained for Juddmonte to become the Eclipse Award-winning older female of 2014. The colt’s sire is the world-renowned Tapit.
“Funny thing is, he looks more like a Tapit than his mother,” Mott said. “But yes, naturally, it’s very special to have her first foal turn out like this and have him in our barn.”
For Mott, who remains the youngest trainer ever enshrined in the Hall of Fame (age 45, 1998), this was his second Tampa Bay Derby win, following Zede with Jerry Bailey up in 1997. Dating to 1984, Mott has had eight Kentucky Derby starters, with the best finish being a seventh by Hofburg last year.
Tacitus returned $19.80 as fifth choice in a field of 11 in the Tampa Bay Derby. Outshine finished second as the 6-1 fourth choice and was followed another 1 1/4 lengths back by Win Win Win, the 7-5 favorite.
Todd Pletcher, trainer of Outshine, said the Malibu Moon colt exited the race in good shape and that the Wood will most likely be his next start. Win Win Win wasn’t away particularly sharply and had somewhat of a difficult trip thereafter, trainer Mike Trombetta said Sunday from Maryland. Win Win Win returned Monday to his Fair Hill Training Center base following a long overnight van ride.
“I thought he ran pretty well, all things considered,” Trombetta said. “We’re going to stay on the Derby trail, give him one more crack. I’d have to think the Wood or Blue Grass is next, but let’s get him settled back here and see how he does.”
Easily the disappointment of the race was another gray Tapit colt, Dream Maker, 10th as the 7-2 second choice. Trainer Mark Casse said Dream Maker will be equipped with blinkers when running back in the Blue Grass and that his second Tampa Bay starter, Sir Winston, fifth at 46-1 under Julien Leparoux, is “a horse to watch out for. Julien said he wasn’t doing much, then when he got him outside the colt just took off.”
Well Defined, the Sam F. Davis winner who gave close pursuit to front-running Zenden through swift fractions of 22.79 seconds, 45.85, and 1:09.57, faltered to finish eighth as the 9-2 third choice. He was the longest price of 23 individual interests, 216-1, when Pool 3 of the Derby futures closed Sunday.
◗ All-sources handle for a 12-race card that included four other stakes besides the Tampa Bay Derby was $13,956,020, just shy of the track record set last year on the corresponding date. Ontrack attendance on a warm, mostly cloudy afternoon was 10,275.
◗ The next major date at Tampa is March 31, Florida Cup Day, when six Florida-bred stakes worth $115,000 apiece will be run. Closing day of the main portion of the 2018-19 meet is May 5.