HOT SPRINGS -- Joy ran through generations of Arkansas-bred horse people.
Moments after Tapit Star won the $100,000, 6-furlong Rainbow Stakes for Arkansas-bred 3-year-old horses in 1:11.31 before an estimated crowd of 12,000 at Oaklawn Park on Saturday, his trainer Burl McBride stood near his children and grandchildren in the winner's circle.
Tapit Star owner Bill Gossage, an Arkansas native near the end of his first Oaklawn season of horse ownership, fought back tears before he could express his pleasure.
"I was invited to go to the races for the first time in the spring of '76," said Gossage, a former high school basketball coach and school superintendent who is currently Gov. Asa Hutchinson's deputy chief of staff. "I've always wanted to get in the winner's circle, and the second time I've been here, it's for a stakes race. Tapit Star is really a special horse."
Gossage's first trip was on March 10 for Tapit Star's maiden win at Oaklawn.
"Wins here are a little more important," McBride said. "I call this home. Bill's an Arkie bred. Three of my kids and seven of my grandkids are Arkie breds. I bought a home here in '68, so this is home to me.
"This is my favorite track, and the money's good. It's home. I win a race here, everybody I know knows. The winner's circle here is a little small with all the friends I know from here and the kids and everybody."
Tapit Star, under rider Walter De La Cruz, ran in second, just off the right shoulder of front-runner Rusty Cage through the first quarter mile in 22.17 and the half in 45.74.
The race shaped up exactly as McBride hoped. He said he was not surprised when Tapit Star passed Rusty Cage shortly after the two turned into the stretch.
"It turned out perfect for us," McBride said. "We were just going to lay off the speed and take aim at [Rusty Cage]."
"I knew the No. 3 [Rusty Cage] was the speed horse," De La Cruz said. "I just sat behind him, and when I asked him, he finished strong."
Jockey Alex Canchari on Young Bull, a son of Bellamy Road trained by Ernie Witt, also aimed at Rusty Cage and passed him near the wire to finish second, 2 lengths behind the winner and 1½ lengths in front of Rusty Cage, who hung on for third, 4¼ lengths in front of fourth-place Ikon Who.
Canchari said his confidence in Young Bull increased as the race unfolded.
"Warming him up, I really liked him," Canchari said. "He's been in tough every time he's run, and, honestly, when he turned for home, I thought if they would just back up a little more to me, we had a chance to win."
De La Cruz said the race went perfectly for Tapit Star.
"I had a lot of horse, and I knew he was going to go, and he did," De La Cruz said. "He was feeling good from the start. It was a perfect start, a perfect trip outside all the way."
"All I wanted to do was lay a little off the speed, just like he did," McBride said. "The only thing I told Walter was that, 'If you got aim at this speed horse when you're headed for home, he'll run by him.' "
Sports on 04/21/2019