Greatest Honour

Well, I guess in the week we lost Mrs. Chandler--that elegant bridge at the center of five generations (and counting) of Kentucky horse lore--nobody will need reminding to take the long view. Certainly not Shug McGaughey, who will perhaps be reminding the disappointed connections of Greatest Honour (Tapit) how things didn't turn out too badly for Coronado's Quest (Forty Niner) after he was likewise derailed from the Classic trail. Maybe Greatest Honour can now become Shug's fifth winner of the GI Travers S., a race with an even longer history...

According to a report from Daily Racing Form's Jay Privman, leading GI Kentucky Derby contender Greatest Honour (Tapit) will be forced to miss the "Run for the Roses" and will instead get approximately 60 days off. Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey had the Courtlandt Farms homebred examined by Dr. Larry Bramlage after not being satisfied with how he came out of a somewhat disappointing third as the 4-5 favorite in the GI Curlin Florida Derby Mar. 27. The regally bred bay colt had taken each of his three starts...

We should have known better. The moment we deceived ourselves that we had a crossroads of perfect symmetry, with four standout colts converging inexorably on the first Saturday in May, one promptly limped off the trail and then last weekend another was beaten at odds-on. Nobody, then, will be making any assumptions when the other two complete their GI Kentucky Derby preparations, Concert Tour (Street Sense) in the GI Arkansas Derby next week and Essential Quality (Tapit) as the geographical and narrative pivot of three rehearsals staged coast to coast...

Greatest Honour (Tapit) rides a three-race win streak heading into the GI Curlin Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park, however, the Courtlandt Farm homebred certainly hasn't scared anyone away as 10 other sophomores have also signed on in Saturday's Classic prep. A large part of the draw is that the Florida Derby will offer 170 qualifying points for the May 1 Kentucky Derby on a 100-40-20-10 basis. The 1 1/8-mile test has produced the winners of 60 Triple Crown events. The imposing bay kicked off his career with a trio of...

The show must go on. After a year of pandemic, that turns out to be pretty much the default setting of our commendably resilient species. And you couldn't ask for a much better example than the staging of the G1 Dubai World Cup--just three days after the death of Sheikh Hamdan; behind closed doors, and behind closed faces. At the best of times, it's difficult for family and friends of public figures to grieve in a duly intimate register. Throw in the frigid constrictions of Covid, with no tactile consolation...

Greatest Honour (Tapit--Tiffany's Honour, by Street Cry {Ire}) has done everything perfectly in South Florida this winter. Coming off of three straight wins at Gulfstream Park, including the GIII Holy Bull S., and the GII Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth S., Greatest Honour is headed to the GI Curlin Florida Derby this weekend and likely to be the heavy favorite. In each of his last three victories, Greatest Honour has executed a confident late surge, mowing down his competition in the stretch. The extra sixteenth of a mile in the Florida...

SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stable LLC, Golconda Stables, Siena Farm LLC and Robert Masterson's Spielberg (Union Rags) has been confirmed to contest the GI Curlin Florida Derby Mar. 27 at Gulfstream Park. Trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, the 3-year-old is expected to face GIII Holy Bull S. and GI Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth S. winner Greatest Honour (Tapit) in the nine-furlong test that has produced the winners of 60 Triple Crown events. "We'll see how he stacks up," Baffert said Friday. Spielberg, who is scheduled to...

The continuously improving Greatest Honour (Tapit) continued his preparations for the Mar. 27 GI Curlin Florida Derby at Payson Park Saturday, covering a half-mile in :50.20 (3/21). "He worked nice--his typical work," trainerr Shug McGaughey said. "I think he bounced out of the [GII Fasig-Tipton] Fountain of Youth good." Greatest Honour broke his maiden at fourth asking at Gulfstream Dec. 26 and has swept the first two of three GI Kentucky Derby preps held at Gulfstream: the Jan. 30 GIII Holy Bull and the Feb. 27 Fountain of Youth.

He doesn't need the publicity: as he approaches the evening of his career, his fee is $185,000 and, with his book as wisely controlled as ever, demand should always exceed supply. Nonetheless, there's something highly gratifying about the prospect of Tapit redressing one of the few gaps in a resume that otherwise qualifies him as unmistakably the most accomplished stallion in the land. The horse himself, of course, would remain totally unwitting--just as he was, when his 20th birthday last Saturday was so aptly marked by two sons emphatically confirming...

Birthdays with a zero on the end are supposed to be momentous occasions, and 20-year-old Tapit sure knows how to celebrate in style. On Saturday, the Gainesway stallion even supplied the party favors for a double-barreled bash in his honor on the GI Kentucky Derby trail. Exactly two decades after Tapit's Feb. 27, 2001, foaling date, two of his sons delivered sky's-the-limit performances as winning favorites in key 3-year-old prep stakes that firmly established both atop of the current crop of aspirants to wear a blanket of roses on the...

Courtlandt Farm homebred Greatest Honour (Tapit) looked all but hopeless rounding the final bend in Saturday's GII Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth S. at Gulfstream, but he flew home in the stretch to complete a huge daily double for his sire. The Shug McGaughey trainee's victory came just minutes after returning champion Essential Quality (Tapit) cruised in Oaklawn's GIII Southwest S. Pacesetting Drain the Clock (Maclean's Music) held well for second, beaten 1 1/2 lengths, while longshot Papetu (Dialed In), who briefly looked like the winner, checked in third. It was...

On the day that the leading grass juvenile of 2020 rolls the dice on the GI Kentucky Derby trail, here's a really important question for every American horseman. Just what was it about European turf star Mishriff (Ire) that qualified him to run down as irresistible a dirt runner as Charlatan (Speightstown) for the richest prize in our sport last weekend? The answer is so straightforward that it condenses into a single word, yet the implications continue to elude almost everyone in our industry. And that word is: opportunity. There...