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After producing her first two foals by promising — but young — Mid-Atlantic stallions, Maryland Million winner Participate gets a shot with the proven Kentucky sire Tapiture in 2022.
Tapiture has consistently ranked near the top of his sire-class across all metrics, slotting in among stallions with significantly higher stud fees than what he has ever charged (like Constitution, American Pharoah, Liam’s Map, Honor Code, etc) and with much less help from his mates (his lifetime CI is just 1.17). But one category in which he outranks everyone in the country other than multiple leading general sire Into Mischief is his number of 3YO winners in 2021 (68, from 100 starters). And with 3 stakes-winning 2YOs in 2021 among his 24 winners and 74 runners in that group, he looks poised for an even stronger 2022.
TrueNicks calls this matchup an “A+”, the Tapit/Include cross having produced G2 winners Pink Sands and Amalfi Coast, as well as 2021 G2-placed 3YO Proxy, who looks to have a stakes win in him at some point in 2022 as he makes his way back from an injury, and an additional pair of 2YO winners in 2021 by sons of Tapit out of Include mares. (There are a total of 15 winners from 18 runners on this cross.) Interestingly (and somewhat surprisingly), there is only a single foal by Tapiture out of an Include dam (which is as yet unraced), but there are reasons to think that this cross will work even better for him than other Tapit-line sires.
Firstly, Tapiture’s G3 winner Hopeful Growth is out of Rock Hard Ten mare, as is his stakes-placed 2YO of 2021 Osbourne. And while Rock Hard Ten is from the Hail To Reason/Turn-To sire-line and Include goes back instead to Ack Ack, Include is inbred 4x4x4 to Turn-To (once through Hail To Reason), while Participate’s granddam December Ember is inbred 2×4 to Sir Gaylord, another son of Hail To Reason. Hopeful Growth also has His Majesty close up in her female family (Participate broodmare sire being out of a mare by His Majesty, plus two additional crosses of his sire Ribot), while Osbourne is inbred 4×5 to Private Account, and this foal will have Private Account 4×4.
Participate’s family has also had success with AP Indy-line stallions like Tapiture. Participate’s half-sister Love Heart is the dam of stakes-placed, $200k-earner Gifted Heart by a son of Tapit’s sire Pulpit, while under Participate’s third dam are additional black-type horses Hypothesis (multiple stakes winner by Algorithms), Golden Debutante (stakes-placed winner by Malibu Moon), Lady Flatter (stakes-placed winner by Flatter), and All About Attitude (stakes-placed winner by Majestic Warrior).
So this matchup makes a lot of sense on paper, and we like it a lot physically, too: whereas Participate is a tall, substantial, slightly coarse mare, Tapiture is a good-sized horse with plenty of class and quality, which will hopefully produce a slightly prettier foal than what Participate is herself.
And regardless of how it looks, Tapiture gives Participate an excellent chance of coming up with a successful runner what is still early in her breeding career!