Tenaciousness and Tapit

A key factor in the success of Tapit 's progeny has anecdotally been their will to win, a stubbornness in the heat of battle when they've hooked a competitor approaching the wire. 

Gainesway's Michael Hernon observed prior to the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) that often when a Tapit runner is in a close race with other horses, the Tapit usually prevails. We saw it in the 2014 Belmont Stakes when Tapit's son Tonalist  won by a head over Commissioner  and again in 2016 when another son, Creator, prevailed in the Belmont by a nose over Destin . This year Gainesway's top sire was represented by three Belmont starters.

The strongest example of this competitive spirit to date is the 2016 Spinaway Stakes (G1) when two Tapit daughters, Sweet Loretta and Pretty City Dancer, finished in a deadheat after Pretty City Dancer chased down Sweet Loretta in deep stretch.

Those attending the races at Belmont Park June 8 also witnessed the hallmark Tapit tenaciousness. Marconi held onto his early lead despite multiple challenges late in the Woodford Reserve Brooklyn Invitational Stakes (G2) and won by half a length. Behind Marconi was a wall of four horses all separated by less than a quarter-length. Earlier on the card in the Belmont Stakes, Tacitus made a gut-busting drive with a quarter-mile remaining to close from fifth to finish a narrowing second behind Sir Winston. Nitrous delivered an equally impressive performance as runner-up in the Woody Stephens Stakes (G1).

Clearly Tapit's progeny are talented, as is evident by his 122 black-type winners and 123 black-type-placed runners through June 9, but BloodHorse MarketWatch wondered about the depth of their competitive spirit. To find out, we compiled a list of all Tapit winners that won by a neck or less regardless of the race type.

It turns out the will to win runs pretty strong. Out of Tapit's 798 winners to date worldwide, 35% (278 runners) won at least one race by a neck or less and 67 have won more than one race by a neck or less. These hard-fought wins included 41 stakes, of which 24 were graded/group stakes. Most of the stakes winners had winning margins of a neck, with 17, followed by 12 stakes winners by a nose, and 10 by a head.

Three other Tapit runners won in deadheats: Running Tap, who would become stakes-placed at 2, was in a deadheat in a Sept. 2011 claiming race at Belmont Park; five-time winner Tapin Mojo was in a deadheat at Aqueduct Racetrack in April 2015; and, Tap the Magic broke his maiden in his second start with a deadheat in November 2012 in a maiden special weight at the former Betfair Hollywood Park.

In the 151-year history of the Belmont Stakes, 30 editions were decided by a margin of a head or less. To date, only one sire has been represented by two Belmont winners whose margins of victory were this close—Tapit.