Taptam and Bella Medaglia to increase the chances of trainer Bret Calhoun to win the Gardenia Stakes at Ellis Park
The six-year-old Bret Calhoun trained Taptam is the one of two contenders entered by the trainer to win the $100,000 Grade 3 Gardenia Stakes at the Ellis Park.
Gardenia Stakes is the featured race of the Ellis Park summer meet, and it has reeled in a full field of 12 fillies and mares.
Trainer Bret Calhoun has entered a 4-year-old filly, Bella Medaglia as well with the six-year-old mare Taptam, giving himself twice the chance to win the Ellis Park fixture on 13 August, 2011.
Owned by Larry Hirsch and Wayne Sanders, Taptam is the daughter of Pleasant Tap, out of Salty Tam by Salt Lake.
The mare is coming off a narrow defeat in the Wild Rose Stakes held at Prairie Meadow on 28 May, 2011, but earlier this year the daughter of Pleasant Tap went on to win the Star of Texas Stakes which was held at Sam Houston Race Park.
The mare has entered the Grade 3 Gardenia Stakes, and she will be among the dozen other fillies and mares in the Ellis Park’s fixture which tops the 13 August race card.
Taptam had a good 2010 comparatively, as she won the Pippen Stakes at Oaklawn Park which was the first of the two black type events she entered last year, and the next was up against the powerful mare Zenyatta in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap also held
at Oaklawn Park on 9 April, 2010.
Taptam, who is sent at 8 to 1 to win the Gardenia Stakes, ran her heart out last year in the Apple Blossom Stakes. It was a threatening field, and it became all the more scary when the 19 consecutive race winning Zenyatta took the field.
Taptam ran a spirited race under jockey M Berry and finished as a runner up to Zenyatta. The homebred Taptam has gone on to win 10 races out of 35 lifetime starts, and has posted 7 runner up finishes was placed third 3 times in her career with the earnings
of $500,000.
The 6 to 1 favourite Bella Medaglia, owned by Coteau Grove Farm and trained by Bret Calhoun, the filly is coming off a win in an Allowance race for 3-year-old and above fillies at Churchill Downs at a distance of 1 1/8 miles under jockey M Mena.
The filly has had six starts this year and out of those she has won twice, both of them being allowance races.
She was a runner up in the hard fought Iowa Distaff at Prairie Meadows on 24 June, 2011. Bella Medaglia will break from post number 12 under jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. and Taptam will break from post 9 under jockey Jamie Theriot.
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