Monmouth Park featured a pair of graded stakes for older horses on Saturday’s Haskell (G1) undercard, the $490,000 Molly Pitcher (G3) and $400,000 Monmouth Cup (G3), and a pair of notable runners, champion Idiomatic and Grade 1 winner Tapit Trice, came out on top.
Juddmonte Farm’s homebred Idiomatic rebounded from a narrow loss in the Ogden Phipps (G1) last month, but it did not come easy in the 1 1/16-mile Molly Pitcher. Last year’s champion older dirt female was forced to dig deep after being passed by Soul of an Angel, gamely battling back along the rail to score by a head.
Regular rider Florent Geroux was up on the classy five-year-old daughter of Curlin for Brad Cox, and Idiomatic has now earned more than $3.4 million from a 15-11-2-2 record. She left the starting gate as the 1-10 favorite, establishing dawdling fractions in :25.57 and :50.27 on a short lead. Soul of an Angel, the 5-1 second choice following a win in May’s Ruffian (G2) and a fifth in the Ogden Phipps, advanced on the far turn to challenge and took a short lead into the stretch.
Despite being boxed in through the stretch, Idiomatic wound not be denied, finding enough late to prevail after a thrilling duel to the wire. She stopped the teletimer in 1:44.53.
It was nearly 10 more lengths to Frosty O Toole in third, and Miles of Smiles and Kathleen O. completed the order.
Idiomatic broke her maiden at Turfway and recorded her first four wins, including last year’s Latonia S., over the Tapeta. She moved to dirt last spring and after a second in the Ruffian at Belmont Park, Idiomatic followed with five consecutive stakes wins, including the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1), Spinster (G1), Personal Ensign (G1), and Delaware H. (G2), and then received an Eclipse Award.
The bay mare opened this year with a 3 3/4-length victory in the La Troienne (G1) on the Kentucky Oaks (G1) undercard, but her six-race win streak ended with a head second to Randomized in the June 8 Ogden Phipps during the Belmont at Saratoga session.
Kentucky-bred Idiomatic is the first foal from stakes winner and multiple Grade 1-placed Lockdown, a full-sister to 2014 champion older female Close Hatches, the dam of multiple Grade 2-winning millionaire and sire Tacitus, 2024 Fleur de Lis (G2) winner Scylla, and 2024 Ohio Derby (G3) victor Batten Down, who are all by Tapit. Close Hatches and Lockdown are daughters of First Defence and out of the Storm Cat mare Rising Tornado.
Unraced since a third in last year’s Travers (G1), Tapit Trice showed no rust coming back with a convincing win in the 1 1/8-mile Monmouth Park. Irad Ortiz Jr. picked up the mount for Todd Pletcher, and Tapit Trice raced closer to a moderate pace in his four-year-old debut. He surged to a clear lead while straightening for home and drew off to a 5 1/4-length decision, registering his third career stakes win.
Campaigned by Mandy Pope’s Whisper Hill Farm and Gainesway, Tapit Trice left the starting as the 2.80-1 second choice among eight rivals. The gray Tapit colt was timed in 1:50.46.
Highland Falls, the 7-10 favorite, rallied belatedly for runner-up honors, three-quarters of a length better than Counterspy, who overcame a slow start to set the pace while being pursued by a tight pack of contestants including Tapit Trice, who rated within a couple of lengths of the lead along the backstretch. Khozeiress wound up another six lengths back of Counterspy in fourth, and next came Kuchar, Far Mo Power, Surface to Air, and Stage Raider.
Tapit Trice broke his maiden the second time out earned his first stakes win in the Tampa Bay Derby (G3) two starts later. The confirmed closer established himself as one of the Kentucky Derby (G1) favorites with a Blue Grass (G1) triumph, but Tapit Trice got going too late at Churchill Downs, rallying belatedly for seventh in the first leg of the Triple Crown. He followed with a third in the Belmont (G1), a fifth in the Haskell (G1), and a third in the Travers. After returning from a 329-day layoff with a strong performance, Tapit Trice increased his bankroll to $1,453,650 from a 10-5-0-3 ledger.
Bred in Kentucky by Gainesway, Tapit Trice commanded $1.3 million as a yearling at the 2021 Keeneland September sale. He’s the first stakes winner of the multiple stakes-winning Dunkirk mare Danzatrice, a half-sister to 2018 champion two-year-old filly Jaywalk. This is the female family of multiple Grade 2-winning millionaire Mission Impazible and Grade 2 scorer Forest Camp.
