No kidding… I was at Gainesway looking at stallions when Tapit first retired and I asked for an all show for everyone under $15,000. They showed me him and I thought “Twelve five? Are they serious?”
Yeah I’m a genius…
I loved Tapit when I saw him. He was just my kind of horse. But with just 6 starts, he was otherwise uninteresting to me. How things have changed in the last decade! Now there are numerous stallions with 4 starts or fewer. Abbreviated careers are getting to be the norm unfortunately. I’m another who would love to have a do-over re Tapit.
Not that I consider myself any kind of genius. If I was I would never have stayed with horses my whole life, lol
But I did breed to Tapit when he stood for $12,500 in his “bubble year”. To a 14 year old graded stakes placed winner that I bought when she was 10 for $80,000 IF Cherokee Run. She had been bred to some of the leading sires at the time, Unbridled, Tale of the Cat, Coronado’s Quest, Forest Wildcat. IMO some of the “obvious” crosses at the time. None of them were worth a dam on the racetrack. Which is why I got her for a realistic price in 2004
The Cherokee Run was a good 2 year old, won 2 in a row. But they got greedy and broke him down.
Decided to go in a different direction then the previous breeders. The wisdom of hindsight, lol.
Bred her to Silver Charm, liked the cross and his 2 year olds were looking pretty sharp. That didn’t pan out. They didn’t train on and he was sold to Japan not long after the ink was dry on the contract for $25,000. Got a nice filly, but the mare stepped on her knee and crushed the growth plates. Bummer. Total bust
Bred her to Holy Bull, got a nice filly that sold well enough and won $100,000.
Bred her to Tapit in 2007 and got the horse in the picture, A nice (minor) Stakes winner. Didn’t get a lot of money in the ring for him. A bit unfinished and it was the beginning of the financial meltdown. Which hit the sales hard.
Bred her to Two Punch the next year. Nice enough colt that sold decent. Winner of over $125,000
Unfortunately the breeding gods can be cruel. By the time the Tapit colt became a bit of a talking horse. The mare was’t doing right. Diagnosed with cancer and we had to put her down. Never had a chance to capitalize in the ring after getting a stakes winner.
The lord must want me to muck my own stalls for life. lol.
The second picture is of my wife and Joan Wakefield Dickerson (with the Tapit button), Michael’s wife. At Tapit’s Derby Day run. They are good friends and gave us tickets and a box for a wedding present! Not sure if that was taken before or after the race. Looking at Joan I have a feeling after, lol. Pretty sure that was the closest I’ll ever get to standing in the Derby winners circle.
Talking with Micheal a few years later after Tapit went to the top of the sire’s list and his Breeding Right was worth a ton of money. Well Micheal, Tapit let us down on Derby day. But he sure as heck didn’t let you down in the breeding shed, lol.
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With due respect, you’re figuring this on a day that Arrogate chose to fire, and not lope around the track.
And, the weakest? I’d say Sir Barton, who ran on coke, and Omaha, might be less than AP, but that’s just my opinion.
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“Bird In A Cage?” “Falconry?” “Why The Caged Bird Sings?”
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If he was burned out after his lightweight career, so badly that months after Dubai he can’t muster up any energy, he should be gelded. The entire notion is absurd. He won an okay Classic, barely, less than a length over a horse who’d had a much harder season who was spotting him four pounds for age and both of them were open daylight ahead of the field. He won the Pegasus against an unimpressive field including a cooked Chrome. Dubai is his only genuinely stellar open-company win. And ever since he’s been unimpressive in the extreme and they were already saying retirement before the Classic. I would want a full set of x-rays on him because I find it hard to credit he’s “tired” or just not interested (and if he really doesn’t have the brain for it, I wouldn’t want THAT passed on either.)
Songbird was retired for soundness. I would be looking not only at proven sires but ones without any physical baggage. Arrogate doesn’t hit in either category. I’m sure the foal will sell for a lot, though, as it’ll be first-crop.
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Was reading the article on Tapit in the BH (I wasn’t following racing as closely during Tapit’s racing days).
How many colts have looked awesome on track and duds in the shed and vice versa? Tapit had a decent enough performance career but certainly out performed in the shed, didn’t he.
Gumtree, like hearing about your journeys in breeding and the TB industry in general. Definitely not for the faint of heart. Hopefully some gems in amongst those stalls you’ve cleaned 
Will be interesting to see what results of the Arrogate x Songbird cross… sure not my choice but easy to sit on the couch with a glass of wine and critique.
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Names, hmm… Colt or filly?
It also depends on how far back you like to go in the pedigree.
Flight Diverted. Captive Bird. Meadowlark. Clipped Wings. Protest Song.
That’s MY Bird. Twittering.
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Here is the definition of arrogate - to take or claim (something) without justification.
My lack of creativity is mind boggling. The only thing I can come up with is Song Gate.
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“Stolen Song”
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Also means: “assume, take, claim, appropriate, seize, expropriate, wrest, usurp, commandeer.” Names? hmmm…
Captivating Song. Anarchy. Seize The Bird. Raptor Claws. Victory Song. Bird Of Prey.
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Has someone swept up the name, “Twitter” already? If so, then I second skydy’s “Twittering”. Cliche, yes, but rather timely! Also…WrestWren, Bird Thief, (love “Stolen Song”!), Stole for a Song, The Birdglar (that’s awful!).
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Palm Beach, I wish Juddmonte had a conformation photo up. There are none so far. They list him between16.2 and 16.3. so not really as huge as he looked on the track and he’s not as tall as his sire.
I think he’s just that tall, stretchy “stands-over-a-lot-of-ground” type that Unbridled’s Song was, and often seemed to get. Apparently some of his do take time to mature so Arrogate may not be “weedy” for much longer.
Is Songbird very tall? She didn’t strike me as inordinately large but I’ve only seen her racing on video.
Ace, I think Wrest Wren is great!
I would change Stole for a Song to “Stolen for a Song”
I don’t know if Twitter is taken but I liked the sound and the idea of Twittering better. Bird like, with only an oblique modern reference.
Palm Beach, the definition of “Arrogate” was why Flight Diverted was my first thought for a name.
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Songbird is not overly tall but she is wider, more barrel to her, shorter backed, a bit more bone. I’d say she was in the 16h range but not any bigger than that. I don’t think Juddmonte will be posting a confo photo until he starts to fill out. there are plenty of these types of photos floating around though, of him at Juddmonte standing for photos.
I’ve seen photos of him standing around, usually in bandages, but not a conformation photo.
Stolen from another board – Sparrogate
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That’s pretty funny. :lol:
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Not to flog a dead horse (pardon the pun) once the conversation has moved on, but Point Given was pensioned to the KY Horse Park today:
https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/224942/point-given-pensioned-to-kentucky-horse-park
I only bring this up because of the similarities between him and Arrogate. Before Arrogate came along, Point Given’s name was usually dropped by Baffert as the best horse he ever trained. He seemed to have it all heading into the shed: monstrous ability, an amazing physical presence, and the paper to back it up. And, well, look how his story turned out. From a $50M syndication and a $125K initial fee ultimately down to a $5K fee, single digit books, and a somewhat early pensioning.
There is no such thing as a sure thing.
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[QUOTE=Texarkana;n9941091]
… I only bring this up because of the similarities between him and Arrogate. Before Arrogate came along, Point Given’s name was usually dropped by Baffert as the best horse he ever trained … [/QUOTE
~ AND before Arrogate, American Pharoah was “the best horse he every trained!” <rolley eyes>
One more in the armchair brigade.
I’m lukewarm on the idea based, as others have said, on the physical matchup between them and on the fact that so far, Unbridled’s Song has beed an extremely average (dare I say poor?) sire of sires. Arrogate had a ton of ability, but so did plenty of others. First Defence got Juddmonte’s best, and he’s nowhere to be seen. The best of the lot is Songandaprayer, who climbed the ranks as he did with an army of sprinting claimers.
On pedigree, their dams are bred very similarly, to the point where they are nearly genetic siblings. I’m also lukewarm on this, because a double of Forty Niner AND Deputy Minister (with Caro, Le Fabuleux, and Sir Ivor in the mix) is saying, here is a horse that doesn’t get warmed up until 9f and will do better at 12. That’s all well and good, but there aren’t that many races longer than a mile in the US. The net effect is that this is an obvious play for a classic horse…but see point #1, where Unbridleds Song sons have not lit the world on fire and if the foal likes to run 12f at allowance level, well…it’s not going to run much. And so goes Songbird’s page.
Purely on pedigree, I would have gone for Curlin…he has 2 Gr-1 winners and a listed-winning, graded stakes placed horse linebred to Deputy minister plus another Gr-1 winner linebred to Deputy Minister’s sire Vice Regent. Irish War Cry has Vice Regent’s full brother Vice Regal. (Plus a Gr-1 winner in Russia doubled up on Deputy Minister and a Gr-3 winner doubled up on Vice Regent.)
For the likelihood of getting a GOOD runner who will also burnish her page as a producer, either Tapit, Curlin, or Bernardini.
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