Goulburn, Race 6, 3.25pm AEST, Shaun Guymer Jockey of the Year BM58 H., $22,000, 1200m
I'm not sure there are too many horses which are nominated for a
Cox Plate who have fronted up in a
BM58 at Goulburn, but
Love Tap (Tapit {USA}) holds such possible spring goals, having debuted with a win for
Richard and Michael Freedman back in June at
Nowra.
LOVE TAP as a yearling at the Magic Millions
He cost
Dynamic Syndications $110,000 at the
2019 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale and is out of a strong American family with
his half-sister Fighting Mad (USA) (New Year's Day {USA}) a recent winner of the
G1 Clement L Hirsch S. at Del Mar.
His dam, Smokey's Love (USA) (Forestry {USA}), is a half-sister to stakes-winner
Monsoon Rain (USA) (Old Treiste {USA}) out of the family of
G1 Florida Derby winner
High Fly (USA) (Atticus {USA}).
Dynamic Syndications boss Dean Watt chatted to TDN AusNZ Bren O’Brien about the unusual pathway.
“We have always believed from Day 1 that that Love Tap will be a better 10 furlong (2000m) horse than he will ever be a six (1200m) but you have to lay the foundations and sometimes in racing, due to weakness in the racing calendar, you are forced to look outside the box.
“We would have loved to kick off his career in town but back in mid-June however there were no logical races available at the right trip for a 2yo.
“So we decided to take him down the line for education and see what level he would achieve over an unsuitable 1200m on a wet track.
“That day he was something to behold. On debut he took on older horses, and ran the fastest last 600m, 400m and 200m of the day.
LOVE TAP winning on debut
“His ratings figures were superb which lined up with our assessments of his ability.
“We are not getting carried away with a Nowra maiden win where the form of his competitors that day is certainly questionable.
“However, we are targeting two major 3yo races with him in the Spring. He has been nominated for a lot of races, but we are keen on following a pattern with him of running in the Gloaming and his main target is the Gr1 Spring Champion. We did that with Savabeel and then took him to Melbourne and had a throw at the Cox Plate which he won and the Derby which he finished runner-up.”
Staying 3yo’s are hard to find and Richard Freedman is adamant that Love Tap will get the trip.
“This benchmark 58 over 1200m is well short of his best. Winning would be nice but we are just keen to see him hitting the line after his let-up. He’s a gelding, so it’s not important to follow the traditional early black-type races as he is not a stallion prospect. It’s about laying the foundation stones for the future.
“Placed to advantage he may be our Derby horse. But one day at a time. We are just concerned about taking him to the sport on Friday and seeing him hit the line and pull up well so we can continue to aim towards loftier ambitions over further, later in the Spring.”