Tapit led the general sire list for three consecutive years in the past decade, breaking the single-season earnings record for a North American sire each time. Although he hasn’t led that list since he set the high bar of $19,245,198 in 2016, he has continued to make his presence known among the elite of the continent’s sires. Gainesway’s 19-year-old Pulpit stallion, who still holds his single-season earnings record despite the advent of the Pegasus World Cup and growth of other purses, led all North American stallions with 13 graded stakes winners in the hemisphere for 2019, surpassing fellow classic sire Curlin with 11. Tapit also led by all black-type winners with 26, surpassing Into Mischief, the leading general sire by earnings, with 23. The quality of Tapit’s progeny was further borne out by the Beyer Sire Performance Standings. Tapit had the most individual runners to record benchmark Beyers of 90 or higher on the season, leading Into Mischief, 35 to 28. Those runners recorded a total of 87 Beyers at that level, as Tapit easily led Curlin, 87 to 64, atop that list. Tapit’s graded stakes winners on the season were led by Tacitus, who scored a pair of Grade 2 victories on the Kentucky Derby prep trail in the Tampa Bay Derby and Wood Memorial. He went on to record four Grade 1 placings on the season, including a promotion to third in the Kentucky Derby and a runner-up effort in the Belmont Stakes. Tapit also sired graded/group stakes winners Bellavais, Dream Pauline, Kingly, Lake Avenue, Marconi, New York Central, Pink Sands, Rotation, Silver Dust, Souper Tapit, Synchrony, and Wissahickon on the season. With those quality runners leading the way, Tapit reached another career milestone as the season came to a close. In December, the stallion became the third North American-based stallion to surpass $150 million in Northern Hemisphere progeny earnings, trailing only the late leading sires Giant’s Causeway and Smart Strike for the career mark in that regard, and doing so with fewer crops of racing age than either. According to Equineline data, through Jan. 6, Giant’s Causeway, who entered stud in 2001, had $172,311,772 in earnings for Northern Hemisphere progeny; Smart Strike, who entered stud in 1997, had $152,752,592; and Tapit, who entered stud in 2005, sat at $151,086,973. In addition to his own progeny’s continued accomplishments on the track, Tapit continued on his way to building a lasting legacy as a sire of sires in 2019. Already the grandsire of champion Monomoy Girl, via his son Tapizar, he placed several sons near the top of a competitive freshman sire class. Constitution, the sire of Grade 1 winner Tiz the Law, finished second to American Pharoah on the freshman earnings list, with both he and another young Tapit stallion, Tapiture, finishing in the top 10 on that list. Constitution, Tapiture, and American Pharoah tied for the lead by individual winners. Constitution led all freshmen with five black-type winners; another son of Tapit, Race Day, tied for second with American Pharoah and Competitive Edge, with four each. :: Download the complete Kentucky Stallions special edition ::