INDIANTOWN, Fla. – Tappan Street and Sovereignty, two of the six top-ranked 3-year-olds in the latest Daily Racing Form Derby Watch and the first- and second-place finishers, respectively, in the Grade 1 Florida Derby, got back to work Friday morning. Both breezed easy half-miles over a fast track at their winter home of Payson Park.
Trainer Brad Cox was originally planning on shipping Tappan Street back to Churchill Downs within 72 hours of his 1 1/4-length victory over Sovereignty in the nine-furlong Florida Derby. Now he’s in no hurry to leave South Florida after watching his lightly raced star breeze four furlongs in 48.46 seconds over a freshly harrowed track shortly before 9:30 a.m. on Friday.
Working in company with the 3-year-old Rapture, a 6 1/2-length maiden winner around two turns earlier this winter at Oaklawn Park, Tappan Street posted an opening split of 24.28 and finished very willingly under a snug hold before galloping out five-eighths in 1:01.56.
“Good move, executed very, very well. It was maybe even better than expected,” Cox enthused immediately after the work. “I didn’t want to do a tremendous amount with him. He was under a good hold throughout. Great move.”
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Cox said Tappan Street stepped up and obviously showed steady improvement throughout the winter. The son of Into Mischief won his debut going six furlongs here on Dec. 28 before stretching out to finish second behind Burnham Square making his 3-year-old bow in the Grade 3 Holy Bull. The performance was flattered when Burnham Square won the Blue Grass Tuesday at Keeneland.
Tappan Street then moved forward again after being given eight weeks off to recuperate from that effort. He benefited from a perfectly orchestrated trip under Luis Saez in his Florida Derby victory over the favored Sovereignty, for which Tappan Street earned a career best 94 Beyer Speed Figure.
Cox said he’s leaning towards keeping Tappan Street at Payson Park for one more work, likely next Friday, before sending him on to Kentucky to have his final Derby breeze at Churchill.
“We’ve kind of been watching the weather, but he’s just been doing so well, I wish they’d run the Kentucky Derby here,” Cox said with a laugh. “It’s where we are. He has to be at Churchill the Saturday prior to the Derby, which will kind of force our hand to have his last work there. But he had his last works last summer at Churchill and seemed to handle it well.”
Tappan Street’s final clocking was nearly identical to the 48.40 half-mile posted by Sovereignty about two hours earlier shortly after dawn. Working solo, Sovereignty galloped out five furlongs in 1:02.00.
“He’s not a great work horse, but he was into it this morning, which I take as a good sign,” said Sovereignty’s trainer, Bill Mott.
Mott said the winter didn’t necessarily go as originally planned for Sovereignty, who missed a scheduled start in the Holy Bull due to a fever. Mott is obviously quite pleased with the way things have progressed from that point. Sovereignty struck right off the bench running down River Thames to capture the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth before falling a bit short with his late rally behind Tappan Street in the Florida Derby.
“We got two out of the three big races in, and usually you’re going to miss one of them anyway, so it worked out fine,” Mott said.
Mott currently plans to send Sovereignty to Churchill within the next couple of days to have his final two Derby works, although he added that he is keeping an eye on the weather reports in Louisville before making a final decision.
At Gulfstream Park, Neoequos, who finished a tiring third in the Florida Derby, breezed an easy half-mile Friday in 49.60, per track clockers. Neoequos is currently 25th on the Kentucky Derby points list and will need some help over the next couple of weeks to get into the field.
“It was just a maintenance work,” said trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. “We haven’t decided exactly what we’re going to do with him. There is a possibility he could run in the Grade 1 turf race they have that day [the American Turf], but it hasn’t been finalized yet. He’s going to work on the turf next week and then we’ll decide.”
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