Tapizar seemed to find himself while breaking his maiden during the fourth
and final start of his juvenile campaign last November at Churchill
Downs.
Sent off as the even-money favorite Jan. 15, the son of Tapit proved he is a serious 3-year-old when he won his stakes debut in the $100,000 Sham (gr. III) at Santa Anita Park. The Steve Asmussen trainee scored by 4 1/4 lengths over Clubhouse Ride, running 1 1/16 miles in 1:40.38 over the fast dirt. The bay colt is a Kentucky homebred of Winchell Thoroughbreds.
With Garrett Gomez aboard for the first time, Tapizar was stride-for-stride with Uncle Sam
through a quick opening quarter-mile of :22.62. Once clear of Uncle
Sam, the bay colt opened up an uncontested lead through a half-mile in
:45.25 and a grueling six furlongs in 1:08.83.
Turning for home Tapizar had just one
serious challenger and it was Clubhouse Ride, who entered the Sham off
third-place finishes in the Delta Downs Jackpot (gr. III) and Hollywood
Futurity (gr. I). But once he felt the pressure from his rival, Tapizar
dug in with left-handed urging from Gomez and had the race put away once
reaching the sixteenth-pole.
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