Each year approximately 55,000 foals are born in the United States. Only 20 of them will reach the starting gate of the Kentucky Derby.
Ahead of Kentucky Derby 149, KSR went to where it all started for one of this year’s favorites, Tapit Trice. Before the colt won the Blue Grass Stakes, before he was sold for $1.3 million at Keeneland, he was bred at Gainesway Farm. His sire, the horse terminology for a father, is Tapit, once the three-time North American sire of the year. Tapit has sired four Belmont Stakes winners, Breeders’ Cup Classic Champ Flightline and dozens of other graded stakes winners.