Juddmonte Farms Seeks Elusive Derby Trophy with Tacitus

As always when it comes to Prince Khalid Abdullah's Juddmonte Farms, the philosophy is a matter of quality over quantity. The worldwide organization, known for decades for its excellence in breeding and racing, certainly has concentrated most on producing excellent turf runners in Europe and the United States.

Juddmonte initially found its best footing in the States teaming with trainer Bobby Frankel, whose Juddmonte stars included Toussaud and Honest Lady.

Both of those mares appear in the pedigree of Wood Memorial Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G2) winner Tacitus, Juddmonte's hope for the May 4 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1). Honest Lady and Toussaud are the dam and second dam, respectively, of First Defence, the gray colt's broodmare sire. 

Tacitus will be just the fifth horse to run in the Derby under the famed Juddmonte colors. Eltish checked in sixth in the 1995 running, while Aptitude (2000) and Empire Maker  (2003) finished second. Trainer Frankel was bitterly disappointed with the trip Aptitude got, believing he could have snagged the position of winner Fusaichi Pegasus . After a 15-year absence from the Derby, last year Juddmonte's Hofburg made a late run and wound up seventh.

Early in the century, Juddmonte stepped up its efforts to master American dirt racing as it had turf racing around the globe, but it has gone through some trial-and-error to get where it is today, with one of the favorites for the Run for the Roses.

"We've learned that crossing some of our pure turf mares with a pure dirt stallion didn't always get the job done," noted Garrett O'Rourke, Juddmonte's manager in North America. "Certainly, the lack of production we got from Empire Maker's offspring was disappointing. But we have certain pedigrees—Toussaud being one—that have produced turf horses, but the pedigrees were originally American dirt pedigrees as well. It might have taken a generation to get them back to that. The Monroe family (Monroe is the fourth dam of Tacitus) and the Best in Show family have been amazing on both dirt and turf, and it didn't take much to switch them back to an elite dirt family again. 

"We've been more careful now about making sure the mares are in the right place. We send a lot of our pure turf mares back to England to go to Frankel and Kingman."

One Juddmonte runner who showed ability on dirt was Tacitus' dam, Close Hatches, who ran the table in 2014 by winning the Personal Ensign, Ogden Phipps, and Apple Blossom stakes (all G1) en route to being tabbed champion older mare. Tacitus is the first foal out of the mare, who produced a Malibu Moon  filly now named Atheer in 2017, a full brother to Tacitus in 2018, and a Curlin  colt Feb. 21.

"When we looked at Close Hatches as a foal, she looked exactly like the type of fillies Wayne Lukas was buying at the sales years ago when he had those great dirt fillies like Winning Colors, Landaluce, and Lady's Secret," O'Rourke said. "They all had great tail ends on them and great bone, and they looked like sprinters who could go two turns, which is exactly what Close Hatches looked like. It's set a standard for what we aim for—something that is ideally suited to American dirt racing."

Tacitus is inbred 3x4 to Derby winner Unbridled, and O'Rourke said that the colt's smooth stride reminds him of that standout runner. 

"When we broke him and started to canter him, he had that same beautiful stride that Unbridled and Empire Maker had—a magnificent metronome-like stride where they can knock off the fractions and go on seemingly forever," O'Rourke said. "He was a smooth-moving horse from day one."

Tacitus has also shown his mental chops, winning the Wood despite significant bumping incidents leaving the gate and going into the first turn. Such maturity goes a long way at the Derby, where the 20 participants have to go through the travails of the walkover, a cramped saddling paddock, and the cheers of 170,000 or so patrons. The lack of proper temperament has ruined many a colt's chances to perform at his best. As a son of Tapit , Tacitus is eligible to be somewhat hot-blooded, but has displayed none of that tendency.

"This guy has never been anything but a cool customer," O'Rourke said. "After the Wood we asked (rider) Jose (Ortiz) about the bumping and he said, 'I'm on a pretty big horse, so the others came out of it the worse for wear.' He was able to handle it physically, and mentally it didn't faze him. That was good to see because an incident like that can throw some horses off and rattle them. Horses like American Pharoah  and Justify  showed how important it is to be able to take things in stride."

With a track record that makes it one of the true success stories in Thoroughbred racing over the past half-century, Juddmonte doesn't have many holes to fill in its resume. One valued achievement would be a Kentucky Derby victory.

"The fact that Prince Khalid is still concentrating on carrying out the breeding program with a view to getting horses to the Derby shows his dedication to that goal," O'Rourke said. "We've been second twice, and that's been over a long span of time as well. We have a lot of staff on the farm here who were around when Eltish ran. So that would be an absolute moment of pride and satisfaction if we could pull off a win."