He was bred to be a miler before showing early promise as a sprinter, but Tapildoodledo might just turn out to be a classic winner.
The unheralded Queenslander confirmed his spot in Saturday’s $2 million ATC Australian Derby (2400m) at Randwick with a sweeping come-from-behind victory in last weekend’s Tulloch Stakes (2000m), upsetting his more fancied rivals.
For Kerry Taplin, a former jockey in New Zealand before turning her hand to training, Tapildoodledo will be her maiden Group 1 runner but his significance to her family runs far deeper.
Tapildoodledo is a third generation homebred for Taplin and husband Ian, who had her granddam, 2001 New Zealand Oaks winner Tapildo, and dam Mrs Tappy, which they bred to young stallion Proisir in the hope of adding some speed.
“His grandmother was called Tapildo, hence his name, and she won the New Zealand Oaks as a three-year-old with Sheila Laxon,” Kerry Taplin said.
“The family had the staying blood in it and we thought Proisir, putting him in it, would give us a good miler.
“He was a bit of a character as a young horse. He won a couple of trials really nicely and we thought he was going to be a bit of a sprinter.
“But he ended up proving us wrong.”
While Tapildoodledo surprised many with his Tulloch Stakes performance, the Taplins have been planning their Derby raid for some time.
Plan A didn’t quite come off, but Plan B hit the target.
“We’ve actually got a piece of paper at home and we wrote down all the races we could go to to head towards it (the Derby),” Taplin said.
“He went into the Grand Prix (Stakes in Queensland), he ran fourth and we thought he should have won. He missed the start and everything went wrong. If he’d won that, we thought it would give us a line into the Derby.
“So we had another look at the program and thought ‘righto, we’ll bring him down here for that race (Tulloch Stakes)’ and we pulled it off.”
Next stop is one of the most traditional events on the racing calendar and the Taplins are still pinching themselves to have an Australian Derby runner.
It’s a rare opportunity for a small 10-horse Sunshine Coast stable and win, lose or draw, they plan to savour the moment.
“It’s a real family-oriented thing for us. We’ve just taken it on board and we’re just enjoying it,” Taplin said.
“My eldest son, he’s foreman back at home and he is ringing nearly every five minutes to see what’s going on, how the horse is.
“I think he’ll back up fine. The only worry is it’s a very strong field. I’ll be happy even if he’s in the first half-dozen.
“But he came off the track on Tuesday morning and Lisa McKay, who has been riding him, said he was squealing like a wee rooster. That’s a good sign.”
