Rested Tapwrit Seeks To Land Travers Knockout

It's been nearly 11 weeks since Tapwrit took the expectations he'd been shouldering since he was a baby, carried them for 12 furlongs around the Belmont Park oval, then tossed them up another level when he concluded the final leg of the Triple Crown two lengths in front.

And in the time since the son of Tapit  became one of his division's elite with that Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) win, all sorts of chaos has broken out among his classmates.

Consider the 3-year-old picture for a moment. The horse who was favored in last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T), Good Samaritan, is the colt who took down two classic winners in his dirt debut in the Jim Dandy Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G2). The longshot who broke his maiden in the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G2), Irap, is now a multiple graded victor who defeated the eventual Betfair.com Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1) winner. The Haskell winner, you ask? Girvin was the prospect who garnered headlines leading into the first Saturday in May due, unfortunately, to his foot issues rather than his considerable talent.

While the Good Samaritans, Iraps, and Girvins of the world have been trading shots, Tapwrit has quietly been working toward building off the blow he delivered when he captured the June 10 Belmont. For the first time in months, his gray frame is coming into a race rested. And if he lands another power punch in the Aug. 26 Travers Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1), it might be the hit that sends the rest his division sprawling.

BALAN: Tapwrit Wears Down Irish War Cry to Win Belmont Stakes

With Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) winner Always Dreaming and Preakness Stakes (G1) victor Cloud Computing set to join him in the starting gate Saturday, Tapwrit will be part of the first Travers Stakes since 1982 to have three U.S. classic winners square off in the Mid-Summer Derby. Given that most of the accomplished 3-year-old dirt males are slated to join that trio in the 1 1/4-mile test this weekend, a win by any of that bunch will provide a strong hand of favoritism when it comes to forecasting year-end honors.

In one of his more impressive training feats, seven-time Eclipse Award winner Todd Pletcher took the immature colt who finished last in his debut at Saratoga Race Course last September and developed him into a runner right in the thick of divisional leadership. When Tapwrit reeled in Irish War Cry to capture the Belmont, it marked his second graded win this year, to go along with his victory in the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby (G2). His sixth-place effort in the Kentucky Derby was respectable given the trouble he encountered at the start and, after racing seven times in eight months, the $1.2 million yearling purchase was given a freshening after the Belmont for the exact purpose of pouncing on a potentially battle-weary group.

"He had an incredible foundation. His conditioning and stamina was not a concern. Rather it was a matter of just recharging the batteries and going into the Travers with a fresh horse, and knowing that all the heavy hitters in the division were going to be teeing it up in either the Jim Dandy or Haskell," said Aron Wellman of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, which owns Tapwrit in partnership with Robert LaPenta, Bridlewood Farm, Gainesway, and Whisper Hill Farm. "We just thought if we could sit back, allow them to duke it out in those races ... and we have a real fresh horse who is at a very high energy level for this time in the year, we could potentially be at an advantage. And we definitely are seeing a fresh, willing, energetic Tapwrit now."

Getting Tapwrit's mental game to match his physical capabilities has been the catalyst for the gray colt validating the lofty price he generated at the 2015 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale. Ever the diplomat Pletcher has stated it took Tapwrit "time to figure things out." Wellman, whose Eclipse Partners teamed with Bridlewood and LaPenta to originally purchase the colt, is more blunt in recalling Tapwrit's early training reports.

"If you look at Tapwrit, it's such an incredible case in point of what a gifted trainer Todd is, because you've got a horse who was completely backwards this time last year and knew nothing about his job," Wellman said. "He was completely un-coachable. And Todd and his team really found the keys to his ignition over the course of time. To watch his progress, to see him travel around the country and then to see him win a classic at 1 1/2 miles ... I  can't say enough about the job Todd has done with this horse."

Though he has never been one to blow onlookers away with his workouts, his connections say the Tapwrit they are seeing now is a horse who is more and more professional in figuring out the game. 

"His workouts have been really, really strong and his gallop outs have been particularly powerful, which is not all that typical of him," Wellman said. "He's been sort of a workmanlike breeze horse in the past, but the last three or four weeks he has been breezing, he has really caught eyes. He's become a more willing and arguably a more polished horse in that he knows his job. He knows his job is to finish off his workmate and then power away in the gallop out."

Added Pletcher, "I feel good that we have him fit enough and fresh enough to fire his 'A' race."

Even as he sat back and recharged after his classic victory, Tapwrit still managed to have his stock rise given the topsy-turvy results of his brethren. Always Dreaming and Cloud Computing could do no better than third and fifth, respectively, behind Good Samaritan in the Jim Dandy. And when the morning line was announced for the Travers, it was the colt who had the last word in the Triple Crown series who was deemed the 7-2 favorite.

WINCZE HUGHES: Good Samaritan Springs Jim Dandy Upset

"Right now Cloud Computing, Always Dreaming, and Tapwrit have the key to their own destiny as far as year-end honors are concerned," Wellman said. "Now a lot can happen through the rest of the year, but it's unlikely that all three of them will be able to face up head to head again. And if one of them were to win the Travers, I think there is an awfully strong case to be made for one of them to certainly jump into a major role of favoritism for the 3-year-old championship."