Tales from the Crib: Taiba

Apr 18, 2022 Kellie Reilly/Brisnet.com

Taiba will bid to defy nearly 140 years of Kentucky Derby (G1) history. Not since Leonatus, all the way back in 1883, has a colt won the Churchill Downs classic in just his third career start. 
Yet if any sophomore can blithely shred that stat, it’s Taiba. His meteoric rise on the racetrack is no revelation to those who’ve known him all along, beginning with breeder Bruce Ryan and his wife, Mary. 
Taiba is the incarnation of the best qualities of his sire, Horse of the Year Gun Runner, and his fiercely competitive dam, Needmore Flattery, who was twice honored as Ohio’s state-bred Horse of the Year. From his outstanding physique and athleticism to his fine temperament and mental toughness, he has inherited much more than his parents’ chestnut coat. 
Needmore Flattery was herself bred and raced by Ryan, in partnership with trainer Tim Hamm’s Blazing Meadows Farm. Although she was by Kentucky blueblood Flatter, Needmore Flattery’s dam, Kiosk, was acquired from Eutrophia Farm, the Ohio establishment of the late Elisabeth Alexander. Thus Kiosk brought the blue-collar factor that has been known to reinvigorate aristocratic pedigrees.
In her four-year career, Needmore Flattery was the definition of a hard-trying campaigner, winning 17 of 39 starts, placing 10 times, and working for every penny of her $732,103 bankroll. She won or placed in a grand total of 22 stakes. 
“She was full of heart and gave it her all every time, no matter track condition, distance, or surface,” Mary Ryan recalled.
Indeed, Needmore Flattery won from five furlongs up to 1 1/8 miles, on dirt ranging from fast to sloppy, and even on turf. A precocious juvenile, she blossomed at three and four, and earned her last win at the age of five. 
Ryan bought out Hamm’s interest as Needmore Flattery neared the end of her time on the racetrack, and he sent her to champion Uncle Mo to begin her broodmare career. That tryst resulted in a colt, named Need More Mo, who was working sharply toward his debut. Unfortunately, he sustained an injury in training and didn’t get the chance to race. But Need More Mo will have an opportunity to make a name for himself as an Ohio stallion.
Needmore Flattery visited Gun Runner in his freshman season at stud, and their son arrived on April 13, 2019, at Millennium Farms in Kentucky. After spending some time in the Bluegrass, Needmore Flattery returned home to Ohio with her baby.
But he wouldn’t be called Taiba yet. The Ryans initially registered him as “Needmore Guns.” Aside from being a play on his parents’ names, it was a reference to the fact that he was the latest, and smallest, foal on the Ryan farm.
“But his conformation was nice and balanced,” Mary Ryan noted. 
“Here on the farm he was such a pleasure to be around – so interactive and personable….Anytime he’d see us, no matter where he was in the field, he came running.”
Nicknamed “Gunny,” the colt was smart enough to know how to take care of himself among the bigger boys.
“The other two colts in the crop had size on him from the beginning. They added pounds quickly and were constantly ‘at it,’ while Gunny was very laid-back and level-headed, trying to ignore their over-the-top antics. 
“When we sold one colt early, we put the other with an older gelding and Gunny with the fillies of that crop, which included Needmore Flattery’s full sister (now a stakes winner herself, named Flatter Her Again).”

Young, a clocker as well as bloodstock agent, had bought other high-profile runners for Zedan, from future Grade 1 winner Princess Noor (for $1.35 million) to ill-fated Medina Spirit (for $35,000), the first-past-the-post before disqualification in the 2021 Kentucky Derby. 

Like them, the new recruit was to be trained by Bob Baffert, who was so enthused that he uncharacteristically high-tailed it back to the Gulfstream barn with Zedan, just to hang out with their big buy. And Baffert called his wife, Jill, to share the news that they just got an “amazing colt.”

“If everything went well, he was a freak,” was how De Renzo summed up connections’ thoughts at the Gulfstream Sale.

Also like Medina Spirit, the juvenile would be given a name redolent of Zedan’s Saudi homeland – Taiba. Zedan remained bullish on his Derby prospects, despite the fact that the colt still hadn’t made it to the races, not only as a two-year-old, but through the first two months of his sophomore season. 

Even Justify, who rewrote the record book by winning the 2018 Triple Crown after going unraced at two, debuted on Feb. 18. That gave him just enough time to win a two-turn allowance as his stepping stone to the Santa Anita Derby (G1).

Taiba didn’t have that luxury. Unveiled in a six-furlong maiden at Santa Anita on March 5, he was expected to win as the 1-2 favorite. Fans might have felt a bit concerned, though, as he had a battle on his hands through the early going, and rounding the far turn, he was being asked to find more. But just as he did during his Florida training days, Taiba got his second wind. He repelled every challenge and drew off by an imperious 7 1/2 lengths.;

Zedan’s brain trust, including Young, advised him to wait for the April 16 Lexington (G3) at Keeneland as a suitable spot to stretch out and race against winners for the first time. Zedan overruled them, intent on pursuing the Santa Anita Derby as his only realistic chance of making it to the Run for the Roses. By that point, Taiba was transferred from Baffert, who had been suspended, to trainer Tim Yakteen. Now he would be eligible to score Derby points.

The Santa Anita gambit appeared like one of those owners’ calls that are too ambitious to pan out. In Taiba’s case, however, the owner’s faith was vindicated.

Working out an ideal stalking trip with Hall of Famer Mike Smith, Taiba once again saved his best for last. His dam, Needmore Flattery, used to pack a late punch herself. Taiba swept past his accomplished stablemate Messier to win going away by 2 1/4 lengths. Not only did he handle the abrupt climb to a 1 1/8-mile Grade 1, but he posted a gaudy 111 Brisnet Speed rating – the joint-highest in the Kentucky Derby field. 

“A pretty mind-blowing performance,” was how Young described the Santa Anita Derby on Steve Byk’s “At the Races” radio program.

If Taiba can make history on the first Saturday in May, celebrations will ring from the Ohio Valley out across the Atlantic. For Needmore Flattery was subsequently exported to Europe.

Offered back in foal to Uncle Mo at the 2019 Keeneland November Sale, she was sold for $195,000 to Yeguada Centurion, the nom de course of Leopoldo Fernandez Pujals. Her Uncle Mo foal, now a two-year-old filly, was born in Ireland. According to France Galop, Needmore Flattery last year produced a colt by Waldgeist, who famously denied Enable’s three-peat in the 2019 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (G1).

Needmore Flattery’s heart and determination have carried her a long way from her Ohio roots. Maybe the same qualities can carray Taiba a long way into the Derby record book. 

Photo credits:
Foal photos courtesy of Bruce and Mary Ryan
Yearling photo by Matt Goins
Two-year-old photo courtesy of Dean De Renzo

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