Tapizar Makes for Memorable Oaks Day for Hernon

In the early morning hours of last Friday, Michael Hernon was busy welcoming the latest foal out of his mare Winning Call (Deputy Minister), dam of GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner and Gainesway stallion Tapizar (Tapit), in Lexington. Later that afternoon, Hernon watched as Tapizar's daughter Monomoy Girl, a filly he co-bred with Brendan and Olive Gallagher, earned a determined victory in the GI Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs. The day was a success for the Irishman not just personally, but also professionally as he looks to develop the career of the emerging young stallion Tapizar in his role as Gainesway's Director of Sales.

Hernon purchased Winning Call privately after the mare RNA'd for $200,000 as part of the Gainesway consignment at the 2011 Keeneland November sale. The farm was selling the mare on behalf of Ron Winchell.

“I was disappointed she didn't sell through the auction,” Hernon said. “This was a mare I had confidence in and I really liked her. I went back through the cards and I tried everyone who looked at her and I wasn't getting anywhere. I got up to the top of the hill at barn 47 and I had an epiphany and I said, 'You know what you're doing.' So I put together a group of partners and we bought her.”

Tapizar would go on to win the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile in Winchell's colors the following year. His 20-year-old mare produced a colt by GI Kentucky Derby winner Orb last week.

“On Oaks morning at 6:20, Winning Call, who is a lovely, kind mare, lay down and she had an easy foaling and she produced a good healthy foal,” Hernon said. “I'd call him medium-sized plus and he nursed very well. I was delighted. When you get a mare at that kind of age, you're never sure how things will go, but you keep your fingers crossed.”

If all continues to go well with Winning Call, plans call for the mare to be bred back to another Gainesway son of Tapit, Anchor Down. That 7-year-old stallion, also bred by Gainesway and purchased back for stud duties, won the 2016 GII Kelso H. and GIII Westchester S.

Of Anchor Down, Hernon said, “He has tremendous libido and fertility, like his sire Tapit, and he is producing most impressive first-crop foals.”

Asked if he thought Winning Call's Oaks-morning foaling was a good portent for the main event, Hernon said, “It did strike me. We thought she could have foaled any of the previous five or six days. Was it an omen? Maybe. But it was an exciting start to the day.”

Once that business was taken care of, Hernon headed across state to Louisville to watch morning-line favorite Monomoy Girl go postward in the Oaks. It was a role he was familiar with, having bred Zazu (Tapit), third in the 2011 Oaks.

Hernon and the Gallaghers teamed to buy Monomoy Girl's dam Drumette (Henny Hughes) with the future Oaks winner in utero for $75,000 at the 2014 Keeneland November sale. At that same auction the previous year, Hernon purchased the mare Ladyflickerflacker (Forestry), also in foal to Tapizar, for $65,000. That in utero foal, now named Hollywood Handsome, was second in this year's GII New Orleans H.

“I came across both mares in similar fashion,” Hernon recalled of the two acquisitions. “I was in the back walking ring coming out when I saw Ladyflickerflacker and I quite liked her foal, who was a Trappe Shot filly. I felt like, if she gets a nice foal by Trappe Shot, why wouldn't she get a nice foal by Tapizar? Jody Huckabee of Elm Tree was selling her and he recommended the mare to me. It was a quick look; it was somewhat of a gut feeling. She sold before the foal and I gave $65,000 for her and David Ingordo gave $75,000 for the baby. So I thought that has to be ok.”

Hollywood Handsome sold to Mark Stanley for $200,000 at the 2015 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale. Ladyflickerflacker has a yearling filly by Tapizar slated to sell at Saratoga this summer.

“I decided to access the New York program as an experiment,” Hernon said. “I sent Ladyflickerflacker up there along with another mare named Mattie Camp (Forest Camp), who is a graded stakes producer that I own with Dr. David Richardson. Ladyflickerflacker's filly is a registered New York-bred filly who is pointed towards the Fasig-Tipton Preferred sale; she was inspected by Dennis Lynch and Evan Ferraro the other day and they were quite keen on her. And since the Oaks win, I'm contemplating offering the other New York-bred filly by Tapizar out of Mattie Camp, at the main sale at Saratoga. I think she is a very attractive chestnut filly and an earlier type and Fasig-Tipton will look at her later in the week. I think she might be one of the only Tapizar progeny in the main sale at Saratoga.”

Drumette, meanwhile, foaled a Shackleford colt this year and her yearling colt by Tapizar sold for $175,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton October sale. She will be bred back to Claiborne's Grade I winner Mastery and could reappear in the sales ring this fall.

“I think it's likely that Drumette could find her way into the November sales, but she obviously has to have a successful cover and get in foal,” Hernon said. “It's certainly possible that she could be in the November sales. That is something that I'll discuss with my partners, Brendan and Olive Gallagher.”

Tapizar, who won the 2011 GIII Sham S. and 2012 GII San Fernando S., concluded his racing career with a dominant victory in the Breeders' Cup before retiring to Antony Beck's Gainesway to stand alongside his super sire Tapit in 2013. From three crops to race, the stallion has, in addition to his Oaks winner, sired three stakes winners and five graded stakes placed runners. Standing for $12,500, his 2-year-olds were popular at the juveniles sales this spring with nine sold for an average of $86,891 and a median of $90,027.

“I like them,” Hernon said of the Tapizars. “They take a little bit of time to come around, but don't forget Tapizar himself did his best running as a 4-year-old. I see a correlation with his stock proving their best races are coming as they mature, as did Tapizar. He is out of a mare by a leading broodmare sire in Deputy Minister. And is from a top Winchell family that has been developed over the years. There is real good blood behind there. I think you're going to see more results at a higher level.”

In Tapizar's first Classic winner, Hernon sees echoes of his sire Tapit, who was represented by 2014 GI Kentucky Oaks winner Untapable.

“Monomoy Girl is a marquee racehorse and a breakthrough for Tapizar,” Hernon said. “This is a Kentucky Oaks winner in just his second crop and Tapit produced an Oaks winner in the form of Untapable.”

Hernon continued, “This mating of Tapizar on the Northern Dancer line is successful with Monomoy Girl being out of a Henny Hughes mare. This is the same cross that produced a pivotal horse in Tapit's development, in [GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner] Hansen, who is out of the Sir Cat mare Stormy Sunday. And you have Tell a Kelly on the West Coast who won the GI Del Mar Debutante and the you have the very high-caliber filly Careless Jewel, who was foaled and raised here at Gainesway and won the GI Alabama S. She was out of a Hennessy mare.”

Even as Tapizar is celebrated for the first Classic winner of his young stallion career, the true star of the Gainesway stallion roster remains his 17-year-old sire Tapit.

“We keep Tapit right at 120 mares per book and people can get these high-quality mares to him in a timely fashion,” Hernon said. “Then if they choose to sell commercially on the way out, the market has a good representation, but it's not flooded with the product.”

He continued, “Tapit can change a mare's life. And [Tapizar's success] is a big endorsement of Tapit himself, to have a son of this level come through and produce a champion-elect 3-year-old filly like this. What greater endorsement of Tapit other than to have his sons emerge as being top stallions in their own right.”