Tasso (USA)
April 20, 1983 – c. 2009
Fappiano (USA) x Ecstacism (USA), by What a Pleasure (USA)
Family 8-i
April 20, 1983 – c. 2009
Fappiano (USA) x Ecstacism (USA), by What a Pleasure (USA)
Family 8-i
A champion who has been all but forgotten, Tasso secured an Eclipse Award by defeating Storm Cat by a nose in a thrilling renewal of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (USA-G1). He failed to train on well enough to maintain his standing in what turned out to be an above-average crop, and he found himself totally overshadowed by Storm Cat as a stallion. Tasso never won another graded stakes race after his juvenile season and proved a disappointing stallion in the United States before being exported to Saudi Arabia.
Race record
23 starts, 9 wins, 4 seconds, 4 thirds, US$1,207,884
1985:
1986:
1987:
Honors
Eclipse Award, American champion 2-year-old male (1985)
Assessments
Co-highweighted with Ogygian at 126 pounds on the Experimental Free Handicap for American juveniles of 1985, 2 pounds above Storm Cat.
Rated at 119 pounds on the Daily Racing Form's Free Handicap for American 3yo males of 1986, 7 pounds below champion Snow Chief.
Rated at 114 pounds on the Daily Racing Form’s Free Handicap for American older males of 1987, 13 pounds below divisional champion and Horse of the Year Ferdinand.
As an individual
A bay horse, Tasso preferred to come from off the pace, though he was not necessarily a deep closer.
As a stallion
Records compiled by The Jockey Club credit Tasso with 166 winners (54.1%) and 15 stakes winners (4.9%) from 307 named foals. His best runner was Torrismondo, winner of the 1993 Gran Criterium (ITY-G1).
Notable progeny
Torrismondo (USA)
Connections
Foaled in Florida, Tasso was bred by Gerald Robins & Timothy H. Sams. He raced through his juvenile season as the property of Robins and Sams’s Waldemar, Inc.; afterward, he was owned by William S. Farish and Gerald Robins. He was trained by Neil Drysdale and was ridden to his Breeders’ Cup win by Laffit Pincay Jr. He entered stud in 1988. In 1996, he was exported to Saudi Arabia, where he stood at Prince Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah’s Al Janadriyah Farm. He was pensioned in 2009.
Pedigree notes
Tasso is inbred 5x4 to five-time American champion sire Nasrullah. His dam Ecstacism is a half sister to French stakes winner Ribellor (by Ribot) and Panamanian stakes winner Las Tablas (by Pronto). Ecstacism is also a half sister to Proud Belle (by Proud Clarion), dam of stakes winner Whiskey Mac (by Black Mackee).
Ecstacism and her siblings were produced from Tout Belle II (by Sicambre), whose full sister, 1964 French champion 3-year-old filly Belle Sicambre, is the dam of 1969 Prix de Chantilly winner Belbury (by Exbury) and second dam of Grade 2 winner Kalita Melody. Tout Belle II is also a half sister to 1961 Prix de la Nonette winner La Bergerette (by Tornado), dam of 1969 Prix Daphnis winner Bergano (by Nosca), second dam of French Group 2 winner Eddystone, and third dam of Argentine Group 2 winner Mejiro Seaton. In addition, Tout Belle II is a half sister to Tya (by Tyrone), dam of French stakes winner Tarpan (by Dapper Dan), and to Perine (by Prince Taj), third dam of multiple Group 2 winner Proudwings.
Tout Belle II, in turn, was produced from the Hyperion mare La Perie. Produced from the Vatellor mare Philippa, La Perie is a half sister to 1955 Derby Stakes and Grand Prix de Paris winner Phil Drake (by Admiral Drake) and to 1952 Prix Morny winner Bozet (by Bozetto).
Books and media
Footage of Tasso’s winning stretch drive in the 1985 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile can be accessed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9LrKNKPOiw.
Fun facts
Last updated: December 4, 2024
Race record
23 starts, 9 wins, 4 seconds, 4 thirds, US$1,207,884
1985:
- Won Breeders' Cup Juvenile (USA-G1, 8FD, Aqueduct)
- Won Del Mar Futurity (USA-G1, 8FD, Del Mar)
- Won Breeders' Futurity (USA-G2, 8.5FD, Keeneland)
1986:
- Won Manassa Mauler Stakes (USA-L, 7FD, Aqueduct)
- Won El Cajon Stakes (USA-R, 8.5FD, Del Mar)
- 2nd Gotham Stakes. (USA-G2, 8FD, Aqueduct; from 3rd by disqualification)
- 2nd Withers Stakes (USA-G2, 8FD, Aqueduct)
- 3rd Jersey Derby (USA-G2, 10FD, Garden State)
- 3rd Yankee Valor Handicap (USA-L, 9FD, Santa Anita)
1987:
- 2nd Hollywood Gold Cup Handicap (USA-G1, 10FD, Hollywood; dead heat withJudge Angelucci)
- 3rd Henry P. Russell Handicap (USA-R, 10FT, Santa Anita)
Honors
Eclipse Award, American champion 2-year-old male (1985)
Assessments
Co-highweighted with Ogygian at 126 pounds on the Experimental Free Handicap for American juveniles of 1985, 2 pounds above Storm Cat.
Rated at 119 pounds on the Daily Racing Form's Free Handicap for American 3yo males of 1986, 7 pounds below champion Snow Chief.
Rated at 114 pounds on the Daily Racing Form’s Free Handicap for American older males of 1987, 13 pounds below divisional champion and Horse of the Year Ferdinand.
As an individual
A bay horse, Tasso preferred to come from off the pace, though he was not necessarily a deep closer.
As a stallion
Records compiled by The Jockey Club credit Tasso with 166 winners (54.1%) and 15 stakes winners (4.9%) from 307 named foals. His best runner was Torrismondo, winner of the 1993 Gran Criterium (ITY-G1).
Notable progeny
Torrismondo (USA)
Connections
Foaled in Florida, Tasso was bred by Gerald Robins & Timothy H. Sams. He raced through his juvenile season as the property of Robins and Sams’s Waldemar, Inc.; afterward, he was owned by William S. Farish and Gerald Robins. He was trained by Neil Drysdale and was ridden to his Breeders’ Cup win by Laffit Pincay Jr. He entered stud in 1988. In 1996, he was exported to Saudi Arabia, where he stood at Prince Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah’s Al Janadriyah Farm. He was pensioned in 2009.
Pedigree notes
Tasso is inbred 5x4 to five-time American champion sire Nasrullah. His dam Ecstacism is a half sister to French stakes winner Ribellor (by Ribot) and Panamanian stakes winner Las Tablas (by Pronto). Ecstacism is also a half sister to Proud Belle (by Proud Clarion), dam of stakes winner Whiskey Mac (by Black Mackee).
Ecstacism and her siblings were produced from Tout Belle II (by Sicambre), whose full sister, 1964 French champion 3-year-old filly Belle Sicambre, is the dam of 1969 Prix de Chantilly winner Belbury (by Exbury) and second dam of Grade 2 winner Kalita Melody. Tout Belle II is also a half sister to 1961 Prix de la Nonette winner La Bergerette (by Tornado), dam of 1969 Prix Daphnis winner Bergano (by Nosca), second dam of French Group 2 winner Eddystone, and third dam of Argentine Group 2 winner Mejiro Seaton. In addition, Tout Belle II is a half sister to Tya (by Tyrone), dam of French stakes winner Tarpan (by Dapper Dan), and to Perine (by Prince Taj), third dam of multiple Group 2 winner Proudwings.
Tout Belle II, in turn, was produced from the Hyperion mare La Perie. Produced from the Vatellor mare Philippa, La Perie is a half sister to 1955 Derby Stakes and Grand Prix de Paris winner Phil Drake (by Admiral Drake) and to 1952 Prix Morny winner Bozet (by Bozetto).
Books and media
Footage of Tasso’s winning stretch drive in the 1985 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile can be accessed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9LrKNKPOiw.
Fun facts
- Tasso was a two-time sales reject. Sent to the 1984 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling sale, he failed to make his US$50,000 reserve. He was then sold to Bertram Firestone for US$100,000 through the 1985 Fasig-Tipton Florida sale of 2-year-olds in training, based on a handshake agreement between the colt’s breeders and Firestone that the sale would be contingent on what trainer Marvin Greene thought of the animal. Tasso was injured while in training in Aiken, South Carolina, and Greene was not interested in continuing with Tasso after the colt’s injury, which had him laid up for most of several months; accordingly, Firestone returned Tasso to his breeders. Ironically, Tasso was the first Breeders’ Cup winner to have passed through a 2-year-olds-in-training sale during the same year.
- Tasso’s 3-year-old season may have been compromised by an injury suffered a few days before the 1986 Wood Memorial Stakes (USA-G1), for which he was the favorite. Workmen near the stable area at Aqueduct dropped some lumber, startling the colt, and he was injured as he lunged in response to the noise. While the injury seemed minor, Tasso was not really himself in the Wood Memorial (in which he finished fourth) or in his next two starts, the Withers Stakes and the Jersey Derby, and Neil Drysdale put him on the sidelines until the fall.
- Tasso was the first Grade 1 winner sired by a son of Mr. Prospector, who would later be recognized as a great sire of sires.
- Torquato Tasso, the equine Tasso’s namesake, was a 16th-century Italian poet who was celebrated as one of the most widely read poets in Europe in the seventeeth through nineteenth centuries. Another horse named after the poet, the German-bred Torquator Tasso, was Germany’s Horse of the Year in 2020-2022.
Last updated: December 4, 2024