By Ray Thomas Daily Telegraph 8:18PM - 08 October 2020
Love Tap will be out to maintain his unbeaten record on Saturday in the Spring Champion Stakes.
It’s the Australian way to cheer for the odd one out – like the grey thoroughbred racing in a field of predominantly bays, browns and chestnuts.
Many race fans have an affinity with the instantly recognisable grey galloper probably because there are so few of them.
Greys make up only about three per cent of the annual foal crop of around 15,000 so the chances of getting a good one are even more remote. It’s why we remember them.
Gunsynd was a boyhood hero of mine – and the nation. He wasn’t the greatest racehorse of all-time but he was arguably the most popular. They even wrote a hit song about the “Goondiwindi Grey”.
Love Tap is quickly becoming a fan favourite.
Since Gunsynd, there have been many great greys like Surround, Ming Dynasty, Emancipation, Subzero, Schillaci, Racing To Win, Efficient, Gold Edition, Chautauqua and Classique Legend.
Which brings us to Love Tap.
He’s no champion – yet. But he’s unbeaten, he’s exciting and he’s grey.
Love Tap – even the name resonates – has won his only four starts impressively and is favourite to win the Group 1 $1 million Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) at Royal Randwick on Saturday.
The three-year-old gelding’s distinctive colour comes from his sire Tapit, the grey stallion regarded as one of the most influential breed-shapers in American racing with 27 individual Group 1 winners and counting.
Tapit stands at famous Gainesway Farm in Kentucky and served the Forestry mare, Smokey’s Love, to southern hemisphere time before she was sent to Coolmore Stud in the Hunter Valley.
Smokey’s Love gave birth to her Tapit foal three years ago at Coolmore before the mare was served in successive seasons by American Pharoah but sadly lost both foals. She was sent back to America earlier this year.
Her Tapit foal was offered for sale at the 2019 Magic Millions Sale on the Gold Coast and was spotted by Dynamic Syndications father and son team of Dean and Adam Watt.
“I’ve got to give credit to Adam here, he was very keen on the Tapit yearling,’’ Watt said.
“Adam was insistent we should have a look at it and I thought: ‘A Tapit, I don’t know?’
“We are biased in this country to our own sires and although Tapit is relatively unknown here, he is the champion sire in America.’’
Love Tap faces his biggest test in the Spring Champion Stakes on Saturday.
Watt said a closer examination of the yearling’s pedigree was revealing.
“The Tapit-Forestry cross had been replicated back then eight times for seven winners and one placegetter,’’ Watt said. “Among this group were two stakes winners and a stakes placegetter which is proportionately very high.
“This horse was genetically brilliantly bred so we looked at him and agreed he was a nice horse. Adam said I really want to target this horse. We set our budget at $160,000 but we got him for $110,000.’’
But Watt has been a syndicator for nearly 40 years, his Dynamic Syndications brand has been in operation since 2004 and he knows the business better than most. He still had some reservations and questioned his son: “Do you think you can sell a Tapit in the Australian market?”
“Adam said he was confident he could with this yearling and sure enough the horse was fully syndicated in 48 hours,’’ Watt said. When asked what made Love Tap so popular with his clients, he replied: “Because he is grey!”
“I’m not going to tell you it was this or that or the other, it was because of the yearling’s grey colour,’’ Watt said. “My clients love grey horses.’’
Although Love Tap was never going to be a precocious two-year-old, trainers Richard and Michael Freedman got the grey gelding ready to make his race debut late in the season in a Nowra maiden.
Love Tap was conspicuous again and not just because of his grey coat. He was taking on older, more seasoned horses over an unsuitable 1200m course but finished powerfully wide out to win.
Richard Freedman has been impressed by Love Tap’s progression.
The Freedmans were already thinking of the spring classics and races like the Spring Champion Stakes and Victoria Derby so they gave Love Tap a short break before the gelding raced next at Goulburn nearly two months ago.
Love Tap was now a three-year-old but again he was up against older horses. He breezed home more than four lengths clear of his opposition.
Before having his first race ride on Love Tap, champion jockey Nash Rawiller had ridden the gelding in two trials, finishing second last and last respectively – but the grey showed him something.
The tell-tale sign Rawiller had an opinion of Love Tap came at a Goulburn Friday meeting last month when the jockey committed to make the trip for just one ride.
Love Tap was sent out at Winx-like odds of $1.07 and won his third race from as many starts, strolling home more than four lengths clear of his opposition but Rawiller told surprised connections he was “a bit disappointed”.
Rawiller thought Love Tap was “floating” down the back of the course and had to give the gelding some encouragement 200m from home or the race would have been nothing more than a track gallop.
When informed that Love Tap had actually just smashed the Goulburn track record, Rawiller’s disappointment was replaced by genuine excitement.
“What Nash was telling us was exactly what Christian Reith said when he rode the horse at his second start on a very heavy track at Goulburn,’’ Watt said. “Christian said he had never been on a horse that felt like he was not even touching the ground.’’
Rawiller was now a convert to the Love Tap ‘’fan club” and became their number one ticket-holder after the grey toyed with his opponents to win the Group 3 Gloaming Stakes last start.
“Nash said he was that far in front Love Tap wanted to wait for them,’’ Watt said “He was looking around at the screen, at the grandstand – he did that for fun.’’
Love Tap could target the Cox Plate if he wins the Spring Champion Stakes.
Love Tap is protecting a perfect race record – four wins from as many starts – going into the Spring Champion Stakes and is adding another chapter to the Dynamic Syndicates success story.
Watt has been in the business for nearly four decades, in his words he’s introduced “mega-thousands” of owners to the sport, and he’s been involved with many topliners including Group 1 winners like Savabeel, Atomic Force, He’s No Pie Eater, Polar Success, Reward For Effort, Econsul and De Beers.
His mantelpiece is crowded with trophies won in feature races like the Golden Slipper, Cox Plate, Blue Diamond, Magic Millions, Caulfield Guineas and Rosehill Guineas.
Although Watt has achieved so much in racing, he talks with the enthusiasm of a first-time owner about Love Tap.
“The reality is Love Tap’s the most promising horse I’ve had,’’ Watt said.
“He goes to the Spring Champion Stakes and if he wins, he will get an invite to the Cox Plate and then we will look at the Victoria Derby. I’m following the same path as we did with Savabeel and I promise you Love Tap is a better horse.’’
Savabeel won the Spring Champion Stakes and Cox Plate in 2004 but ran second as favourite to Plastered in the Victoria Derby.
Watt revealed one of his ambitions as a syndicator and owner is to win a Derby – and believes he’s finally got the right horse to win a three-year-old classic.
“I’ve never won a Derby and we purchased this horse to try and win one,’’ he said. “Spring or autumn, it doesn’t matter, I’m super keen to win a Derby, that is something missing on my bucket list.’’
Syndicator Dean Watt has had plenty of success during his career and is eyeing more feature race success with Love Tap
Love Tap’s unbeaten four-race winning streak has been attracting plenty of attention – and not because of his grey coat, either.
Watt has fielded some substantial offers to sell the three-year-old on the eve of the Spring Champion including one bid of more than $1 million but the gelding’s owners unanimously rejected the proposal.
“When we put the offer to the syndicate, not one co-owner wanted to even contemplate selling,’’ Watt said.
“As a cold, hard business decision, you would sell but we sometimes lose sight of the passion.
Love Tap after we had just purchased him from the Coolmore Stud Draft at the Magic Millions in 2019
“I admire them for not selling. I get it. We bought this horse to be a racehorse, we had him gelded early because he was an alpha male, and it’s an affordable hobby and lifestyle choice for his owners.
“After four starts, he is now a ‘free choice’ because he has already earned more than $140,000 prizemoney. He owes them nothing.
“There are no captains of industry in the syndicate, they are just genuine, everyday Australians. They wanted to have a good horse and they’ve got one – they are living the dream with Love Tap.’’