Cupid a Book 1 Score for Coolmore

“Inside the Winner's Circle, Presented by Keeneland” is a series showcasing graduates of the Keeneland September sale that have gone on to achieve success on racing's biggest stages.

It's difficult to find a horse with more human firepower and resulting hype behind them than Cupid (Tapit). The gray colt is by America's foremost sire, was bought for $900,000 out of the first book of the prestigious Keeneland September sale (sales ring video) by international powerhouse Coolmore, and is trained by a horse racing legend in Bob Baffert.

The colt had a successful sophomore season in 2016, but it wasn't until this past Saturday, when sent off at the longest odds of his career in the GI Gold Cup at Santa Anita, that Cupid truly showed the scope of his potential, dominating the race formerly known as the Hollywood Gold Cup in his  4-year-old debut.

Capturing the GII Rebel S. last March, Cupid was considered a top contender for the GI Kentucky Derby, but finished 10th in the GI Arkansas Derby and came out the race diagnosed with an entrapped epiglottis that required surgery, dashing his first Saturday in May hopes. Returning to triumph in the GII Indiana Derby and GII West Virginia Derby last summer, Cupid was shelved for eight months after fading to finish eighth in the GII Pennsylvania Derby Sept. 24.

Having to miss his planned prep for the Gold Cup, the GII Californian S. Apr. 22 at Santa Anita due to a superficial cut to his hock, Cupid was sent off as a 7-1 outsider in the Gold Cup and found a cozy stalking spot in fourth. Tugging rider Rafael Bejarano to the lead not long after the half-mile pole, he strongly kicked clear despite drifting in and being slow to switch leads and came home a no-doubt winner in easily the best performance of his career.

“To come off an eight-month layoff and win a Grade I is a huge achievement,” said Dermot Ryan, manager of Coolmore America. “Bob Baffert and his team deserve a lot of credit for getting him there after things didn't go to plan in the Californian, and obviously it illustrates Cupid's talent as well.”

While the KEESEP price tag for Cupid was a substantial one, his dam, Pretty n' Smart (Beau Genius), is no stranger to dropping coveted offspring. Originally bought for $40,000 as a Keeneland November weanling in 1998, the graded stakes-placed mare's first foal sold for $175,000 as a KEESEP yearling and her next three foals to sell, including graded stakes winners Ashley's Kitty (Tale of the Cat) and Heart Ashley (Lion Heart), were six-figure purchases as well.

This success led Pretty n' Smart to sell for $525,000 as a 2008 KEENOV broodmare and after throwing two more foals who hammered for $350,000 and $490,000 as yearlings, she broke the seven-figure mark when her Tapit colt Dream Team went for an even $1 million to the Coolmore contingent at KEESEP in 2013, one year before Cupid sold.

Tom Van Meter of Van Meter Sales consigned Dream Team, as well as the $490,000 colt, Indianapolis (Medaglia d'Oro), also a Coolmore buy, in 2012.

“[Cupid]'s two immediate older siblings had been our highest-selling yearlings in their respective years,” Van Meter told the Keeneland sales team. “Both of those colts were immensely talented, but unluckily were never able to show their true abilities at the racetrack.”

Pretty n' Smart produced her second consecutive Tapit colt in Cupid, and Van Meter saw a difference in him from his sire's more typically aggressive offspring.

“Many of the Pulpit/Tapit line horses can be plenty fierce, but this colt had a lovely, sweet disposition,” he said. “He was a mature, correct, long-barreled yearling and a very good walker. At the sale, he was very popular and seemed to land on the list of all the big boys.”

Another Tapit–Pretty n' Smart production, the filly Sweet Assassin, upheld her dam's sale standard when going for $500,000 to Solis/Litt at KEESEP in 2015, and she has yet one more Tapit filly set to sell with Van Meter this September, as well as an American Pharoah filly born Feb. 17.

Cupid's Gold Cup heroics were part of a big weekend for Keeneland September yearling graduates at Santa Anita, as superstar turf distaffer Lady Eli (Divine Park), a $160,000 purchase at the sale in 2013, conquered the GI Gamely S. earlier on the Saturday card.

Lady Eli, however, was already a multiple Grade I-winner, while Cupid's initial top-level score cemented him as a valuable stallion prospect after retirement.

“He's an exceptional looking horse from a great family and being a son of Tapit is sure to make him commercial,” Ryan said. “He was always a horse we had high hopes for, but to get a Grade I next to his name really takes him to a new level, and I'm sure he will prove popular when the time comes for him to retire at Ashford.”

Ryan went on to explain why Keeneland sales, September in particular, attract so much of Coolmore's buying attention in America.

“Our relationship with Keeneland goes back decades, and their sales have always been a happy hunting ground for us,” he said. “The importance of Keeneland September is long-established and each year, they put together a high-quality selection of horses, particularly at the top end in Book 1. Cupid is a great example of the type of horse you can find in September. He had a great page and was a very good-looking horse at the sale.”

Ryan noted that Air Force Blue (War Front), who took home European champion 2-year-old male honors for Coolmore in 2015 after winning a trio of Group 1's and is now standing at Ashford, was also part of their 2014 KEESEP haul, hammering for $490,000.

After winning the Gold Cup, Baffert reflected on the circuitous route Cupid took as a sophomore and the development of his charge from age three to four.

“We took the back roads with Cupid last year and made over a million dollars,” the Hall of Fame conditioner said. “Coolmore has been great and they kept him in training. They asked me if I thought he'd get better and I thought he should. We freshened him up and here we are. He's changed a lot, he's really filled out. He's always been a beautiful horse. His class showed up and he's been working so well.”

All of that human firepower behind Cupid paid off handsomely Saturday, and thanks in no small part to his victory, it probably won't be far in the future when big buyers are knocking heads to bid on little Cupids at Keeneland September.