Soon, surely-even if not this time. And it may yet go to the wire, with many plenty of valuable prizes to be contested before December 31. As things stand, however, Into Mischief has seized his moment, turning round a $4 million deficit heading into the Breeders' Cup to open a $700,000 lead over Not This Time, the first pretender to have truly menaced the monopoly he established seven years ago.At least for now, then, only one other living stallion has been measured for the crown. At 25, Tapit's statistical profile continues to taper away, his books having been prudently managed during the evening of his career. Confined to 51 mares last spring, he has now been officially designated “private.” But while he has long faced the self-fulfilling prejudice against ageing stallions, notably through competition from cheaper and glossier sons, he's by no means done yet.The two most notable performances of last weekend were both authored by Tapit sophomores: Stimulate (Dwyer Stakes) and Tap to Open (GII Mother Goose), both relatively slow-burners now on a steep curve for programs that know how to play the long game.Few ungraded stakes have a roll of honor to match the Dwyer, from Man o' War and Gallant Fox to Native Dancer and Nashua. For now Stimulate has barely begun to fill a Sovereignty/Knightsbridge-shaped hole in his trainer's barn. But however far he goes from here, he can hardly outrun his pedigree.For Stimulate represents a family cultivated through five generations by Claiborne Farm and Adele B. Dilschneider, starting with the $1.025 million acquisition from Rokeby Stable of Wild Applause in 1992 at the equivalent auction to the one just concluding at Keeneland.Wild Applause was by Northern Dancer out of Glowing Tribute (Graustark), duly extending a dynasty we seem to be revisiting weekly in the centenary of its founder La Troienne (Fr). This is the branch branded by the matriarch's granddaughter Searching (War Admiral), principally thanks to Hail to Reason's daughters Priceless Gem and Admiring.Glowing Tribute was the most accomplished of Admiring's foals, on and off the track: she won three Grade IIs on turf, and then produced GI Kentucky Derby winner Sea Hero; elite grass runner Hero's Honor; and Wild Applause herself, who emulated her dam in the GII Diana Handicap before in turn excelling as a producer.Wild Applause's most significant son was Roar (Forty Niner), champion stallion in Argentina and damsire of Rachel Alexandra (Medaglia d'Oro). The brief meteor Eastern Echo (Damascus), an unbeaten GI Futurity winner, conversely proved largely underwhelming at stud after a premature retirement. Daughters of Wild Applause were meanwhile headed by Praise (Mr. Prospector), the dam of Congrats and Flatter, brothers whose influence is being particularly extended by Congrats as a broodmare sire.When their sire A.P. Indy was mated with Wild Applause herself, the result was Yell, who won the GII Davona Dale Stakes before making the GI Kentucky Oaks podium.Eight of Yell's 11 foals were female, and could hardly be all retained. The way the family has continued to thrive, however, can be judged from the fact that one sold for $150,000 as a yearling and, though subsequently able to win only a Belterra maiden, was retained at $1.7 million as a young broodmare. (Admittedly she was still only 14 when discarded for $80,000 at the January Sale last year. Such are the travails of the market everyone has been trying to master the past week or two!)A couple of Yell's foals achieved a degree of racetrack distinction: one managed third in the GI Mother Goose, while Cheery (Distorted Humor) crowned a five-for-nine career in an Oaklawn sprint stakes. But they have done rather more for the page as producers. One daughter came up with millionaire Tax (Arch), while Cheery's first foal Elate (Medaglia d'Oro) won two Grade Is by an aggregate 14 lengths en route to earnings of $2.6 million.Elate's third foal is Stimulate. Her date with Tapit doubled up A.P. Indy, as her partner's grandsire and also sire of Yell, and it's easy to see why Stimulate's trainer is eager to send him into a second turn. Stimulate smashed up some glitzy rivals for his 107 Beyer last weekend, and clearly can't have been himself on his previous start-albeit the winner that day, Stellar Wind's son Plutarch, is living up to his own aristocratic pedigree, and may yet contribute further to Into Mischief's defense before the year is out. Paired Slippers Open upA May 27 foal, Tap to Open took four attempts to break her maiden earlier this year. But she's rolling now, in the process vindicating Whisper Hill Farm's decision to retain her at $1.45 million at the 2024 September Sale.They had recruited her dam I'll Take Charge (Indian Charlie) at the equivalent auction 11 years previously, for $2.2 million, a couple of weeks after her half-brother Will Take Charge (Unbridled's Song) won the GI Travers. Already the previous year their sibling Take Charge Indy (A.P. Indy) had won the GI Florida Derby; while since then As Time Goes By (American Pharoah) has of course become a third elite winner out of their great dam.Take Charge Lady (Dehere) has duly delivered a Grade I scorer for each of her own such wins, while another daughter Charming (Seeking the Gold) has extended the dynasty as dam of champion juvenile filly Take Charge Brandi (Giant's Causeway) and the flourishing stallion Omaha Beach (War Front).These marvels are too familiar to need reprising, but it's imperative to salute Whisper Hill's artful pairing of Tapit with I'll Take Charge, herself winner of a 7f Belmont maiden in a light career. The strategy already paid off through their first liaison, in 2018, which produced Charge It-winner not only of the GII Suburban Stakes but also of the very race that just volunteered Stipulate for stardom. Charge It, who won his Dwyer by an unfathomable 23 lengths, is now alongside his sire at Gainesway in hopes of emulating his rise through the ranks.Charge It had already run second in the GI Florida Derby when I'll Take Charge returned to Tapit, so renewing a pleasing genetic symmetry. For her dam was out of a daughter of Rubiano-himself famously out of the same mare, Ruby Slippers (Nijinsky), as Tapit's mother Tap Your Heels. Tap Your Heels, moreover, was by Fappiano's son Unbridled; a close echo of Rubiano, by Fappiano himself.To me, this pegs down the pedigree with far more interest than the bald formula that unites Tap to Open and Charge It with Flightline, who's likewise out of an Indian Charlie mare. Remember this family has just renewed its luster through GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Emphatic (Nyquist), whose granddam is full-sister to Tapit himself. (Little wonder Gainesway's Antony Beck was keen to buy into Emphatic.)Tapit has surrendered his status as America's richest stallion to Into Mischief, but four fewer crops have not prevented that breeding machine from overtaking him in terms of starters. Measured by ratios, Tapit yields hardly anything across the key indices. His best son is barely started at stud, while only Sovereignty denied another of his champions, Essential Quality, a GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner at the first attempt. Meanwhile Tapit's daughters are also taking his legacy forward, not least the one who gave us Cody's Wish. Rest assured, the venerable gray still has a chapter or two to add to his epic tale. Not Every Carat GlistersWith the big programs restocking so expensively, it's not a bad week for pages to have held up so well. Behind Elate's son and Take Charge Lady's granddaughter we had Bletchley (Gun Runner), whose Belmont debut at the weekend was anointed with 'TDN Rising Star' status.He cost Coolmore/White Birch $1.55 million as a KeeSep yearling, his dam Twenty Carat (Into Mischief) having won the GIII Beaumont Stakes only to derail next time. She was homebred by Three Chimneys from a Bernardini half-sister to GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf winner Shared Account (Pleasantly Perfect), herself dam of another Breeders' Cup winner in Sharing (Speightstown).But we know that as many mystifying successes as failures will emerge from the breeding stock sales. That's why the later books are so instructive of those leaving no stone unturned. Take Donato Lanni, who never forgets the principles that launched him when struggling for his first patrons. He bought a $525,000 Muth weanling out of Book 1. His next purchase was Hip 1703, an Uncle Mo mare out of a Group winner barely started on her breeding career. While talkers like me flew home, the walkers put their hands up. And Lanni got her for $10,000, less than the fee paid for a cover as promising as Corniche!But there are plenty of others out there, working equally hard, with resources as scant as Lanni at the start of his career. And the great thing is that we can be nearly certain that some of them will have found their game-changer. Only a few, of course-but it could be you. Good luck to you all.The post Breeding Digest: Stimulating Weekend for the Old Champion appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.