Hopeful Growth’s commanding four-length victory in Saturday’s $212,000 Monmouth Oaks (G3) gave leading Second-Crop sire Tapiture his first graded stakes winner.
The 3-year-old filly, owned by St. Elias Stable, was making just her second stakes start in the 1 1/16-mile Oaks, and responded with a superlative effort. After a good break, she was forced to check going into the first turn and was in fourth along the fence. Holding her position for six furlongs, she moved off the rail as she approached the stretch, then swept past the leader and drew away powerfully to stop the timer in 1:45.63 and earn a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 90.
The win earned the dark bay filly 50 points on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks (G1), which runs on Sept. 4.
“Her last race was the first time she ran around two turns,” said trainer Anthony Margotta, Jr. “This was our bull’s eye target. She’s bred to go long and she has trained that way the whole time so I knew she would go longer. She has always wanted to stretch out. I loved the trip. She was patient on the rail. That’s what we have been teaching her to do and it paid off.”
Hopeful Growth was bred by the Phillips Racing Partnership and is out of Maiden America, a half-sister to multiple Grade 1 winner Wonder Again as well as Japanese 2-year-old champion Grass Wonder. Maiden America is also the dam of Bashford Manor S. (G3) winner Ten City.
Tapiture’s excellent 2020 includes four stakes winners and six stakes horses and more than $1.65 million in progeny earnings, all among the top five on the Second-Crop sire list. He also leads all sires in his class with 51 individual winners to date.
