When Tapizar won last weekend's Sham Stakes (gr. III, video) in easy, front-running style, he became the newest graded stakes winner to emerge from the successful breeding program developed by late Verne Winchell. Winchell's son Ron races Tapizar under the Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC banner, the same group that campaigned that colt's sire, Wood Memorial (gr. I, video) winner Tapit (TrueNicks,SRO).
In 1981, Verne Winchell claimed a speedy filly named Carols Christmas for $25,000 from a six-furlong race at Santa Anita. Winchell liked her pedigree, but as he later recalled, her conformation was questionable.
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