Uncle Mo, Tapit 2yos Flash Potential at F-T Midlantic

As one of the last stops on the juvenile sale market, there is never a shortage of quality horses and potential superstars at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale. Typically the sale is the launching pad for many later-developing 2-year-olds as it takes place two days after the Mid-Atlantic region hosts the middle jewel of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes (G1). This year, the sale had been the end goal in mind for two well-bred youngsters who lacked the early precocity of a March sale 2-year-old.

Pike Racing consignment's Hip 226, a bay filly by leading stallion Uncle Mo  , fits the bill.

"We bought her to pinhook her as a weanling and she hadn't grown as much as we'd hoped by the time the (Keeneland) September (Yearling) Sale rolled around so we decided to try her in a 2-year-old sale. She looked fast, she's pretty, has a good pedigree so we thought we'd give it a whirl," Pike Racing's Colt Pike said of Hip 226.

Hip 226, bred in Kentucky by Mike Abraham and out of the stakes-placed Awesome Again mare Issues, is a half sister to 2018 Horse of the Year Accelerate  . Despite being a sibling to the five-time grade 1 winner, Pike was immediately drawn to the filly's sire. His family's consignment sold the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale topper in 2020 when an Uncle Mo colt, later named Shaaz , dropped the hammer for $1.1 million.

"I don't know anyone that doesn't like Uncle Mo," Pike said. "(Her being by Uncle Mo) definitely helped us a bid a bit more than we normally would have. There's always pretty, honest, and fast. We enjoy having them in the barn."

Pike signed the ticket on Hip 226 for $245,000 at the 2021 Keeneland November Sale. In addition to Accelerate, she is a half sibling to two other stakes winners in Daddy D T  and Amarish .

"(Her pedigree) was another reason we went so high for as a weanling, I felt like because of her pedigree she would always have a lot of residual value as a broodmare if everything didn't work out with her going to the track," Pike said.

Although the filly breezed down the lane on the wrong lead, she still managed to stop the timer around the tight Timonium oval in :10 2/5 for her eighth-mile breeze during the under tack show.

"As much as you can prepare, sometimes (being on the wrong lead) happens up here, especially with the smaller track," Pike said. "(I think) she'll be a two-turn horse anyway. She's smart and forward and does whatever you ask her to."

A colt with as much of a pedigree update as anyone in the entire Midlantic catalog is Hip 250 from the Julie Davies consignment. The Gainesway Farm-bred chestnut is a half sibling to the dam of this year's Blue Grass Stakes (G1) hero and Kentucky Derby (G1) starter Tapit Trice .

The son of Tapit   is out of the Orientate mare Lady Pewitt, making him also a half sibling to 2018 champion 2-year-old filly Jaywalk (Cross Traffic  ). When bred on the same Unbridled's Song cross as Jaywalk, Lady Pewitt produced the stakes-winning Dunkirk mare Danzatrice , who in turn, delivered Tapit Trice when mated to Tapit.

Tapit Trice, trained by Todd Pletcher, made a splash on this year's Derby trail after stringing together four consecutive victories from December to April before his seventh-place finish on the First Saturday in May. He skipped the Preakness, and it's not yet determined if the colt will be pointed toward the June 10 Belmont Stakes (G1), a 1 1/2-mile Classic won four times by sons of Tapit. Gainesway Farm bred Tapit Trice and stayed in as a partner on the colt when he sold for $1.3 million to Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm at the 2021 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

Like his accomplished family members, it would appear that the leggy Hip 250 has two turns in his future. The colt still showcased enough speed to breeze an eighth-mile in :10 2/5 during the under tack show.

Both Hip 226 and Hip 250 will pass through the ring on May 22, the first day of selling.