More Group One Glory for Tale of Ekati
30th November 2008
Quality colt Tale of Ekati (3c Tale of the Cat x Silence Beauty, by Sunday Silence) scored his second Group One victory of the year when he was awarded the Hill ‘n’ Dale Cigar Stakes over one mile at Aqueduct on protest.Nosed out on the line by fellow three year-old Harlem Rocker, Tale of Ekati was later given the race when stewards deemed that colt to have lugged in and hindered his running.
The connections of Tale of Ekati, felt justice was served after stewards delivered their verdict following a prolonged deliberation.
“I could see it happening; [Harlem Rocker] took the lane away from us,” said Tale of Ekati’s trainer Barclay Tagg.
Bred and raced by Charles Fipke, Tale of Ekati has the smart record of five wins and a second from 12 starts with prizemoney of $1.1 million, his latest Group One prize sitting along side his previous win at the elite level in the Wood Memorial earlier in the year.
“The (nine-furlong) Wood Memorial came up perfect for him, but I’ve said all along that this horse is a miler,” Tagg said.
“But when you have a 3-year-old with the Kentucky Derby, you have to try different things with them. They are only 3 years old once. He didn’t shame himself in the Kentucky Derby (in which he finished fourth). It’s nice to start the year with a grade 1 at Aqueduct and end it here with a grade 1.”
A colt with a real stallion’s pedigree, Tale of Ekati is from the Sunday Silence mare Silence Beauty, a half-sister to champion mare Sky Beauty, a multiple Group One winner of 15 races and the dam of Group Three winner Hurricane Cat.
His grand-dam Maplejinsky is a dual Group One winner by Nijinsky and a half-sister to champion sprinter Dayjur.
Tale of Ekati is the second Group One winner in the past month for versatile shuttle sire Tale of the Cat, who also featured in the Southern Hemisphere with top class colt Tell a Tale, winner of the Group One New Zealand Two Thousand Guineas.
