Harlan Estate Survives Inquiry to Take Tapit Stakes
Description:
Photo: Coady Photography
Harlan Estate wins the Tapit Stakes at Kentucky Downs
Roaring late from the back of the pack, 37-1 shot Harlan Estate swept by his rivals late and survived a dicey inquiry to take home the top prize in the Aug. 31 $500,000 Tapit Stakes at Kentucky Downs.
Trained by Whit Beckman for Graham Grace Stable, Harlan Estate registered his first career stakes score, and his first win in over a year, in Thursday's opening day feature. The 5-year-old son of Kantharos, far back in the field of 11 early behind snappy fractions of :22.50, :45.11, and 1:09.72, launched a bold rally turning into the uphill drive to the finish. Drifting in slightly in the final sixteenth and forcing runner-up English Bee to check sharply, jockey Declan Cannon straightened the gelding out and kept him busy till the wire.
Returning a whopping $76.52 for a $2 win ticket, Harlan Estate finished 1 3/4 lengths clear of English Bee in a final time of 1:38.47 for the mile and 70 yards over a firm turf course.
The connections of English Bee lodged a foul against the winner that was ultimately disallowed and he settled for second with Yes This Time completing the trifecta.
For Beckman, a former assistant to Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher and four-time Eclipse Award winner Chad Brown, this was his first stakes win since he went out on his own in September 2021.
"This is a huge day," Beckman, who is from Louisville, said. "We brought a horse that was ready to run."
Ontario-bred Harlan Estate was purchased by Graham Grace Stables for $150,000 at the 2022 Keeneland Horses of Racing Age Sale. Graded stakes placed in Canada last year, Harlan Estate was third in the Arlington Stakes (G3T) earlier this summer for his new connections. His earnings now stand at $547,618.