Deep Family Propels Tacitus Down Derby Trail

Prince Khalid Abdullah's Juddmonte Farms has come tantalizingly close to winning America's premier classic—twice.

The premier international breeding and racing program was second in the 2000 Kentucky Derby (G1) with Aptitude and second again in 2003 with favorite Empire Maker , who redeemed himself by winning the Belmont Stakes (G1). 

Juddmonte is back this year with a strapping gray/roan colt named Tacitus, a homebred son of Tapit  and the first foal out of the farm's multiple grade 1-winning champion Close Hatches. From a qualifying points standpoint, the colt has already earned his way into the Derby starting gate with 50 points he got for winning the March 9 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby (G2) in track-record time.

Now, in the April 6 Wood Memorial Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G2), Tacitus has to prove to Abdullah he belongs in the Derby.

"This far along, we are hoping we end up in the Derby, and we think we have a horse that is well-bred and suitable for the next step. I think the distance is going to suit," said Garrett O'Rourke, manager of Juddmonte's American breeding operation. "We are to the point where you just have to see if he's good enough."

Tacitus was not bred for nor physically suited to a big campaign at 2, but the couple of races trainer Bill Mott gave him were important toward setting him up for success at 3, according to O'Rourke.

"He has a lovely big, long stride, and everything came easy to him. Early speed? No, but he is not the physical type nor bred to be that type. We had no expectation that he should be showing us early speed," O'Rourke said. 

"For a Tapit, he has a good mind. (Tapits) are very talented horses, and some of them can get a little bit hot, but so far Tacitus has not displayed any of those characteristics," O'Rourke continued. "Close Hatches has a lovely temperament, so I think that comes through. That gave him the mental edge to move forward."

Close Hatches, a daughter of Juddmonte homebred and grade 1 winner First Defence, was an extraordinary racehorse. After breaking her maiden at first asking by seven lengths at Gulfstream Park, the 3-year-old filly trained by Mott won her first graded stakes two starts later when she won the Gazelle Stakes (G2). She went on to win six more graded stakes, five of them in grade 1 company. Close Hatches earned Eclipse champion older mare honors in 2014 for her three grade 1 wins and one grade 2 win out of six starts that year. 

When Close Hatches was retired to the paddocks, Gainesway's Tapit—the leading sire of his freshman class and a top-three sire his second- and third-crop years—was on the short list of mates. 

"A lot of science can go into the matings, and you try to put as much thought into them as you can, and yet it always comes down to the old adage of breeding the best to the best," O'Rourke said. "Tapit is one of those stallions that fit Close Hatches, but he fits an awful lot of mares. They are lovely, sound horses that run the whole way through. You want to blend the best traits possible, but you don't overthink it. At the end of the day, the important trait you want to pass above all else is the ability to run fast."

Juddmonte was so happy with Tacitus as a foal that Close Hatches was bred to Tapit again in 2017, which produced a colt that is a yearling, and the mare is scheduled to be bred to Tapit for a third season this week, according to O'Rourke.

"Tacitus has certainly encouraged us to feel we are on the right track," he said. Close Hatches also has produced a 2-year-old filly by Malibu Moon  named Atheer and had a colt Feb. 21 by Curlin .

First Defence has a strong presence on this year's Derby trail, as well, as the broodmare sire of two contenders. The other is Sunland Park Derby (G3) runner-up Anothertwistafate, who is ranked 16th on the Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 30 points. 

Anothertwistafate is out of the First Defence mare Imprecation, whom agent James Delahooke bought for 130,000 guineas (US$223,246) at the 2013 Tattersalls December Breeding Stock Sale. Imprecation hails from a productive Juddmonte family as the daughter of multiple grade/group winner Media Nox, which makes Imprecation a half sister to multiple group 1 winner Nebraska Tornado (by Storm Cat), group 1-placed, graded stakes winner and graded stakes producer Mirabilis (by Lear Fan), and group 2 winner Burning Sun (by Danzig).

Imprecation's second foal is Anothertwistafate, a son of Scat Daddy who sold for $360,000 to bloodstock agent Alistair Roden at the 2018 Ocala Breeders' Sales June 2-Year-Olds and Horses of Racing Age Sale. The colt now races for Peter Redekop and is trained by Blaine Wright.

First Defence, by Unbridled's Song, was a grade 1-placed stakes winner at 3, winning the Long Branch Breeders' Cup Stakes at Monmouth Park and finishing second in the King's Bishop Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course. At 4, he won the seven-furlong Forego Handicap (G1) and six-furlong Jaipur Stakes (G3T) and was second in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (G2).

Now standing in Saudi Arabia, First Defence has found modest success as a stallion, having sired 10 black-type winners out of eight crops to race. He was represented by two grade/group stakes winners in his first crop—Close Hatches and Dundonnell, who won the Sprint Cup (G2) at Sha Tin and won or placed in six other group stakes. First Defence sired two other grade/group winners in Antonoe, who won the 2017 Longines Just a Game Stakes (G1T) at Belmont Park, and Irish Jasper, who won the 2016 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes (G2) at Keeneland and two grade 3 stakes.

First Defence's daughters are among his strongest performers, accounting for six of his black-type winners and generating an Average Earnings Index of 1.95 compared to 1.16 for his male runners. As might be expected, First Defence is off to a solid start as a broodmare sire with seven winners and two black-type winners from 21 starters to date. 

"He might be like Secretariat, who everyone said was a better broodmare sire than a sire," O'Rourke said. "We bred good Juddmonte mares to him, and those mares are producing a lot of the good runners at the moment. Not taking anything away from First Defence, but those mares have very strong pedigrees."

What that depth of family can do is evident in Tacitus.

"Close Hatches is not big as in tall, but she is very strong with very good bone and muscle," O'Rourke said. "She is just a solid mare and the type you'd love to have 20 or 30 of in your barn, but we're happy to have one.

"As for Tacitus, I saw him in December and did not see him again until February and thought he'd made a big step forward, growing into his frame. Bill seems very happy with where he is. He is a big horse that still has a lot of growing to do, so the improvement is potentially there for him as he matures," O'Rourke continued. "If he gets beaten (in the Wood), then he needs an excuse or some bad luck to go on to the Derby. Otherwise, we'll regroup, but we're hoping that is not going to be the case."