From Santa Anita Publicity
ARCADIA, Calif. (Nov. 1, 2019) –In a direct affront to his 14-1 odds, Richard Barton’s homebred Tap Back was in command throughout today’s $200,000 Golden State Juvenile at Santa Anita, powering to a six-length win under Victor Espinoza. Trained by Jeff Bonde, Tap Back got seven furlongs in 1:24.98.
Sponsored by the CTBA, the Golden State Juvenile is part of the lucrative Golden State Series, available to eligible California-bred or sired horses.
Breaking from post position three, Tap Back, a 2-year-old colt by Einstein, out of the Tapit mare Tap Tap Ur It, went to the front out of the gate, opened up on eventual runner-up Cali Dude by 2 ½ lengths at the quarter pole and was in a race of his own late.
A first-out Cal-bred maiden winner going 5 ½ furlongs three starts back at Del Mar on Aug. 16, Tap Back was most recently a well beaten fourth in the restricted Capote Stakes at Los Alamitos Sept. 21 and paid $30.00, $13.80 and $9.40 among a field of 11 today.
Bred by Adena Springs and Richard Barton Enterprises, Tap Back now has two wins from four starts and with the winner’s share of $110,000, he now has earnings of $160,475.
Off as the 3-1 favorite, Cali Dude kept to his task through the drive and was second by a half length over longshot Papster. Off at 3-1 with Ruben Fuentes, Cali Dude paid $5.20 and $4.20.
Off at 44-1 with Tyler Baze, Papster paid $13.20 to show.
Fractions on the race were 22.13, 44.98 and 1:10.75.
“I feel great,” said owner/breeder Kate Barton. “This means a lot to everyone…our family… our farm…it has taken a lot of years to get here. First stakes win so we are really excited. We’ll see what Jeff has planned for him. We weren’t exactly sure what to expect today, but we were quite pleased. So, we’ll see how he comes out and then establish a game plan.”