Tacticus Wires Foes in Temperence Hill

Flaxman Holdings' Tacticus, the 2-1 second-choice in a four-horse field, goes wire to wire in winning the 13-furlong Temperence Hill Stakes Sept. 12 at Belmont Park. The son of A.P. Indy tops 1-2 favorite V. E. Day by 3 3/4 lengths.



Indycott was 1 1/2 lengths back in third. Slim Shady was 19 1/4 lengths back in fourth in the $190,000 stakes.



Tacticus, with Joel Rosario up, cruised from the onset with early fractions of :51.62 for the opening half mile, 1:17.91 for six furlongs, and 1:42.64 for the mile. The tempo quickened late, with a :24.69 fifth quarter and a :13.24 final eighth. The final time of 2:44.66 was well off the track mark of 2:40 4/5 set by Man o' War in 1920.



"We went to the lead and had easy fractions," Rosario said matter of factly. "I thought maybe someone was going to go to the lead but nobody went and I just took it from there. I just stayed on and he got stronger as he went along."



Tacticus paid $6.10 and $2.40 and V. E. Day paid $2.10. The 3-1 exacta ($2) returned $7.80.



Tacticus now has a 4-0-3 career mark from 14 starts and has earned $197,571.



The winner is out of the Sadler's Wells mare Visions of Clarity and was making his third start in the U.S. for trainer Graham Motion. In his second start, the 4-year-old won the 1 3/4-mile Birdstone Stakes at Saratoga after finishing fourth at the Spa July 26 in a nine-furlong allowance race.



"I think this is just natural for him. I think he keeps improving. He ran well in the allowance at Saratoga, we took a shot and ran him back in the stakes (Birdstone on Aug. 12), and I thought that today he ran even better," Motion said. "He was so confident. He kind of switched things up; he ended up on the lead and he handled it.



"It's a small field, but he beat a nice horse in V. E. Day and I loved the way he did it," Motion continued. "We talked about (being on the lead) in the paddock. We thought there was a chance we would, which made me nervous, but Joel was confident. He's a galloper; he'll gallop all day."



Tacticus is a half brother to Irish group I winner Pathfork. Visions of Clarity, a minor stakes winner, is a half sister to champion Spinning World, winner of the Breeders' Cup Mile (gr. IT) in 1996.

The race is named for the winner of the 1980 Belmont Stakes (gr. I).