Some thoroughbred deaths elicit more of a response than others.
When
Pleasant Tap was euthanized because of laminitis two weeks ago at 23,
little was made of his passing. Lane’s End Farm, where the 1992
Champion Older Male had stood for the past 13 years, managed only a
generic one-line statement in announcing the news.
Pleasant Tap
was under-appreciated as a runner, in part because his best races came
late in his career. At stud he was successful despite limited
opportunities, improving his mares to a degree few stallions do. He was
one of the last significant direct links to the great Ribot of the
1950s, as well as to their 19th-century ancestor St. Simon, one of the
primary genetic sources of the modern thoroughbred.
Pleasant Tap
was a sort of equine Forrest Gump, turning up in 25 graded races at
tracks across the country. He competed in four straight Breeders’ Cups,
each time in a different race. After failing to hit the board in the
1989 Juvenile and 1990 Turf, he was second in both the 1991 Sprint and
1992 Classic. He was a stakes winner at 2 and 3 years old; finished
third in the Kentucky Derby; and as an older horse, ran almost
exclusively in Grade I and Grade II races in California and New York.
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