Mott Weighs Options for Tacitus

[Wandering Eyes]

Following stakes-record setting score in Saturday’s GII Tampa Bay Derby by Juddmonte’s Tacitus (Tapit), Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott confirmed the son of champion Close Hatches (First Defence) exited the race in good shape and outlined a few options along the Triple Crown trail for the grey.

“The stakes record was a good thing and I think Tampa was a good place for him to get a race in,” said Mott. “It’s a good, safe racetrack and that should be a good conditioner for him.”

Looking ahead, Mott indicated there are sevral possibilities: the GII Wood Memorial at Aqueduct and the GII Toyota Blue Grass S. at Keeneland–both Apr. 6–in addition to the GI Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park Apr. 13.

At two, Tacitus debuted with a fourth at Belmont Oct. 4 before breaking his maiden at Aqueduct Nov. 10.

“He’s run in New York [twice], so it’s very possible we could go [the Wood],” said Mott.

Following Saturday’s victory, Mott reflected, “We really didn’t know what we had until we got into September and started putting a little more pressure on him and asking him, and I said, well, we’ve got to find out, let’s ask him the question, and he started to respond. The tougher the training got, the better he got. Then we got two races in him and got a win out of him in the fall, and for the size of horse he is and the type of horse he is, I thought it was a big accomplishment to get that completed that early in the season.”

Mott confirmed Tacitus will race at least once more leading to Louisville for the GI Kentucky Derby May 4.

“He’s got to run,” he said. “This horse is a big, tough horse, and if we had to, we could run him twice more [before the Kentucky Derby], but with this win under his belt maybe that won’t be necessary. We’ll keep all the options open.”

In regards to how the Juddmonte-bred colt might handle the step up to Classic distances, Mott added, “We’ve always felt that as the distances increase, that should be beneficial to him,” Mott said of Tacitus’ pedigree influences.”

 

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