On Friday, May 19, unbeaten Faiza made her East Coast debut at Pimlico in the George E. Mitchell Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (USA-G2), having been forced to skip the Longines Kentucky Oaks (USA-G1) by trainer Bob Baffert’s suspension at Churchill Downs. She received a rude welcome, as she was beaten back to third by Taxed and Hoosier Philly. Using a strong stretch run, Taxed overhauled the front-running Hoosier Philly at the sixteenth pole and drew off to win by 3¾ lengths. Her victory was the first graded stakes score ever for owner Richard Bahde and trainer Randy Morse and bumped up her career bankroll to US$379,644.
Picked up by Morse on Bahde’s behalf for US$50,000 out of a November 20 maiden claiming race at Churchill Downs, Taxed was still eligible for a first-level allowance race (nonwinners of one other than maiden or claiming) when she entered the starting gate for the Black-Eyed Susan. She had been shown improving form, however, having been second behind eventual Kentucky Oaks favorite Wet Paint in the Fantasy Stakes (USA-G3) in her last previous outing. She also had a bit of pedigree behind her, being by City Zip’s Grade 1-winning son Collected and from the family of Glad Rags II.
The Irish champion 2-year-old filly of 1965, Glad Rags II won the 1966 One Thousand Guineas in England before producing 11 named foals on this side of the pond. Among them were three stakes winners: 1982 Laurent Perrier Champagne Stakes (ENG-G2) winner Gorytus (by Nijinsky II); 1974 Golden Rod Stakes (USA-G3) winner Mirthful Flirt (by Raise a Native), dam of 1982 Cowdin Stakes (USA-G2) winner What’s Dat (by Believe It) and second dam of 1993 Belmont Stakes (USA-G1) winner Colonial Affair (by Pleasant Colony) and multiple Grade 3 winner Stark South (by Dixieland Band); and 1979 Sheepshead Bay Handicap (USA-G2) winner Terpsichorist (by Nijinsky II), second dam of 2012 Belmont Stakes winner Union Rags (by Dixie Union), 2009 Raven Run Stakes (USA-G2) winner Satan’s Quick Chick (by Sky Mesa), and 1999 Cardinal Handicap (USA-G3) winner Pratella (by Jade Hunter. Terpsichorist is also the third dam of multiple English Group 1 winner Declaration of War (by War Front) and multiple Grade 3 winner War Correspondent (by War Front).
Five of Glad Rags II’s six non-stakes-winning daughters also became stakes producers, among them her last foal, Dancing Rags. A full sister to Gorytus and Terpsichorist, Dancing Rags won two of 14 starts and produced Dance Account (by Private Account), who won the Miss St. Louis Breeders’ Cup Handicap at Fairmount Park as a 4-year-old in 1994. A half sister to Ball Gown (by Silver Hawk), dam of 2015 Jenny Wiley Stakes (USA-G1) winner Ball Dancing (by Exchange Rate), Dance Account did not produce any black-type runners among her 11 foals, but her unraced El Prado daughter A Touch of Romance is the dam of listed stakes-placed Yankee Union, whose sire, the stakes-winning Storm Cat horse Yankee Gentleman, is also the broodmare sire of 2015 American Triple Crown winner and American Horse of the Year American Pharoah. Yankee Union, in turn, produced Taxed as her fifth foal; the dam of three other winners, she has subsequently produced the unraced 2021 Preservationist filly In a Jam, a 2022 filly by American Freedom, and a 2023 filly by Complexity.
Although Glad Rags II was a precocious filly who threw a fair amount of speed and early maturity to her foals, her line has shown itself to be able to blend with stamina contributed by its mates. With such two-turn events as the Coaching Club American Oaks (USA-G1) and the Alabama Stakes (USA-G1) further down on the racing calendar, this bodes well for Taxed, whose sire Collected took down his signature win in the 2017 TVG Pacific Classic Stakes over 10 furlongs.
Between Taxed’s victory and Pretty Mischievous’s showing her heels to Wet Paint and most of the other fillies that have won graded stakes this spring in the Kentucky Oaks, the standings in the American 3-year-old filly division are currently jumbled. There is plenty of racing to go through the summer and fall, however, and with a group of fairly evenly matched fillies scrambling for the division’s prizes before facing their elders in the fall, the makings are there for an entertaining racing season. Taxed has now earned the right to be up there in the mix, and if she continues developing and maturing, she has a good a chance as any of collecting an Eclipse Award at year’s end.
Picked up by Morse on Bahde’s behalf for US$50,000 out of a November 20 maiden claiming race at Churchill Downs, Taxed was still eligible for a first-level allowance race (nonwinners of one other than maiden or claiming) when she entered the starting gate for the Black-Eyed Susan. She had been shown improving form, however, having been second behind eventual Kentucky Oaks favorite Wet Paint in the Fantasy Stakes (USA-G3) in her last previous outing. She also had a bit of pedigree behind her, being by City Zip’s Grade 1-winning son Collected and from the family of Glad Rags II.
The Irish champion 2-year-old filly of 1965, Glad Rags II won the 1966 One Thousand Guineas in England before producing 11 named foals on this side of the pond. Among them were three stakes winners: 1982 Laurent Perrier Champagne Stakes (ENG-G2) winner Gorytus (by Nijinsky II); 1974 Golden Rod Stakes (USA-G3) winner Mirthful Flirt (by Raise a Native), dam of 1982 Cowdin Stakes (USA-G2) winner What’s Dat (by Believe It) and second dam of 1993 Belmont Stakes (USA-G1) winner Colonial Affair (by Pleasant Colony) and multiple Grade 3 winner Stark South (by Dixieland Band); and 1979 Sheepshead Bay Handicap (USA-G2) winner Terpsichorist (by Nijinsky II), second dam of 2012 Belmont Stakes winner Union Rags (by Dixie Union), 2009 Raven Run Stakes (USA-G2) winner Satan’s Quick Chick (by Sky Mesa), and 1999 Cardinal Handicap (USA-G3) winner Pratella (by Jade Hunter. Terpsichorist is also the third dam of multiple English Group 1 winner Declaration of War (by War Front) and multiple Grade 3 winner War Correspondent (by War Front).
Five of Glad Rags II’s six non-stakes-winning daughters also became stakes producers, among them her last foal, Dancing Rags. A full sister to Gorytus and Terpsichorist, Dancing Rags won two of 14 starts and produced Dance Account (by Private Account), who won the Miss St. Louis Breeders’ Cup Handicap at Fairmount Park as a 4-year-old in 1994. A half sister to Ball Gown (by Silver Hawk), dam of 2015 Jenny Wiley Stakes (USA-G1) winner Ball Dancing (by Exchange Rate), Dance Account did not produce any black-type runners among her 11 foals, but her unraced El Prado daughter A Touch of Romance is the dam of listed stakes-placed Yankee Union, whose sire, the stakes-winning Storm Cat horse Yankee Gentleman, is also the broodmare sire of 2015 American Triple Crown winner and American Horse of the Year American Pharoah. Yankee Union, in turn, produced Taxed as her fifth foal; the dam of three other winners, she has subsequently produced the unraced 2021 Preservationist filly In a Jam, a 2022 filly by American Freedom, and a 2023 filly by Complexity.
Although Glad Rags II was a precocious filly who threw a fair amount of speed and early maturity to her foals, her line has shown itself to be able to blend with stamina contributed by its mates. With such two-turn events as the Coaching Club American Oaks (USA-G1) and the Alabama Stakes (USA-G1) further down on the racing calendar, this bodes well for Taxed, whose sire Collected took down his signature win in the 2017 TVG Pacific Classic Stakes over 10 furlongs.
Between Taxed’s victory and Pretty Mischievous’s showing her heels to Wet Paint and most of the other fillies that have won graded stakes this spring in the Kentucky Oaks, the standings in the American 3-year-old filly division are currently jumbled. There is plenty of racing to go through the summer and fall, however, and with a group of fairly evenly matched fillies scrambling for the division’s prizes before facing their elders in the fall, the makings are there for an entertaining racing season. Taxed has now earned the right to be up there in the mix, and if she continues developing and maturing, she has a good a chance as any of collecting an Eclipse Award at year’s end.
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