Tappan Street, last in action when upsetting Sovereignty in the $1.02 million Florida Derby (G1) March 29, has been entered to return in a mile allowance optional claimer Dec. 19 at Gulfstream Park.
The 3-year-old son of Into Mischief , owned by WinStar Farm, CHC, and Cold Press Racing and trained by Brad Cox, has been on the sidelines since sustaining a condylar fracture in his right front leg while training at Churchill Downs for the May 3 Kentucky Derby (G1), which was won by Sovereignty. A condylar fracture is a break to the cannon bone above the fetlock.
"We're excited to see him back in the entry box," said Elliott Walden, WinStar Farm's president/CEO and racing manager. "We set out a plan when he got injured to get him back and the goal was to get him back with a race late November, early December. Everything's really gone according to plan since his mishap Derby week."
Tappan Street was nominated to the Dec. 20, $150,000 Harlan's Holiday Stakes (G3), a 1 1/16-mile prep for the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) at Gulfstream Jan. 24, but his connections opted for the one-turn optional claiming allowance, in which he's expected to be heavily favored to beat six rivals aged 3 years old and up.
"We expect to see him run well. I never take anything for granted. Considering how he's run, and how he's been breezing, we're hopeful that he runs well," Walden said. "We'll see what happens. It's a solid race without being overwhelming and it's a good place to start."
Tappan Street has breezed seven times at Cox's winter base at Payson Park Training Center in South Florida, since Nov. 1 after working twice at Keeneland in preparation for his return.
Last season, Tappan Street ran at Gulfstream three times. He won his Dec. 28 debut while rallying from just off the pace in a 7-furlong maiden special weight race to win by 1 3/4 lengths. He next went on to make his stakes debut, finishing second in the 1 1/16-mile Holy Bull Stakes (G3), in which he made a three-wide sweep to take the lead in the stretch before being overtaken by Burnham Square by 1 3/4 lengths. Tappan Street then took the top prize in the Florida Derby while upsetting favored Sovereignty by 1 1/4 lengths in the 1 1/8-mile Kentucky Derby prep.
Tappan Street is the only horse to beat Sovereignty in 2025.
"We had considered running him at Churchill late in the year there. We felt like back in August and September when he started training that we could get him ready for right around the end of November," Walden said. "But I just felt like it was best that we do it on a track that he's comfortable with and where he had done so well last year and take one of the variables out of the equation."
Irad Ortiz Jr. was named to ride Tappan Street for the first time in his highly anticipated return in Friday's seventh race on a nine-race program.
This press release has been edited for content and style by BloodHorse Staff.
