Tappan Street to Return from Long Layoff Friday at Gulfstream

G1 Florida Derby Hero to Run in Mile Optional Claiming Allowance

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – WinStar Farm LLC, CHC Inc. and Cold Press Racing’s Tappan Street, last seen in action while upsetting Sovereignty in the $1 million Curlin Florida Derby (G1) March 29, has been entered to return in a mile optional claiming allowance Friday, Dec. 19 at Gulfstream Park.

The 3-year-old son of Into Mischief 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.

“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.”

Brad Cox-trained Tappan Street was nominated to next Saturday’s $150,000 Harlan’s Holiday (G3), a 1 1/16-mile prep for the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (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, 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 six times at Cox’s winter base at Payson Park since Nov. 1 after working twice at Keeneland in preparation for his return.

“We sent him in to Brad at the beginning of Keeneland right after the September sale, kind of first week of Keeneland. He stayed there for the month of October, breezed a few times and then when Brad opened up his stable at Payson Park he was the first horse on the van so that we could get ready for December,” Walden said. “I feel like coming to Florida, sometimes there’s a little acclimation period, so we wanted to get down there nice and early.”

Last season Tappan Street ran at Gulfstream three times. He won his Dec. 28 debut while rallying from just off the pace in a seven-furlong maiden special weight race to win by 1 ¾ lengths. The $1 million purchase at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton New York Saratoga Select Yearling Sale went on to make his stakes debut in his next outing, finishing second in the 1 1/16-mile Holy Bull (G2), in which he made a three-wide sweep to take the lead in the stretch before being overtaken by Burnham Square by 1 ¾ lengths. Tappan Street got all the money in the $1 million Curlin Florida Derby while upsetting favored Sovereignty by 1 ¼ lengths in the 1 1/8-mile Kentucky Derby prep.

“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 the Curlin Florida Derby winner’s highly anticipated return in Friday’s Race 7 on an eight-race program