Tax is one of several live longshots vying for his place in history in Saturday’s 145th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs (6:50 p.m. ET, NBC). MetroBet will examine his credentials below, highlighting his past performances, pedigree, jockey and trainer.
Tax (morning-line odds TBD) began his career rather inauspiciously, debuting at Churchill Downs in a $30k claiming race for maidens. There were no takers that day, but he ran a respectable second in the 6 1/2-furlong event. Tax’s former connections proceeded to bump him up the class ladder to a $50k maiden claiming race while stretching out to 1 1/16th-miles at Keeneland. It was there that his current trainer, Danny Gargan, won a seven-way shake to claim the gelded son of Arch, who broke his maiden by a widening two lengths.
Then, acting on the advice of friend and colleague Kiaran McLaughlin, Gargan entered Tax in Aqueduct’s Remsen Stakes, an important 1 1/8-mile race for two-year-olds in December. He outran his 17-1 odds as he finished third with a career-best effort. Tax remained at Aqueduct, making his next start in February’s 1 1/8-mile Withers Stakes, where he won by a head despite stumbling at the start. Laid off until the Wood Memorial, Tax came back a respectable second behind Tacitus.
Tax’s pedigree suggests that he can run all day. He’s by Arch, who has sired such stars as 2010 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Blame. Tax’s dam, Toll, didn’t do much on the track but is by world-class sire Giant’s Causeway.
If Tax springs the upset in the “Run for the Roses,” it would be the first victory in the race for both Gargan and jockey Junior Alvarado. Gargan has yet to win a Grade I, though he has a decent shot to do so with Divine Miss Grey in the La Troienne at Churchill Downs on Friday. Alvarado has never won a Triple Crown race but has placed in the top 20 in earnings in five of the past seven years.
