Tales from the Crib: Tappan Street

Apr 25, 2025 Kellie Reilly/Brisnet.com

Tappan Street as a yearling

Tappan Street as a yearling (Photo by Amy Lanigan courtesy of Blue Heaven Farm)

The theme of grandparents runs right through the story of Tappan Street, both for himself and for Adam Corndorf of Blue Heaven Farm.

Corndorf’s late grandfather, Sy Baskin, was responsible for enkindling the family’s interest in racing. Once Baskin got involved in owning horses in the Chicagoland area, his daughter Bonnie teamed up with him, and their partnership was dubbed Sybon Racing Stable. She expanded into breeding Thoroughbreds as well, and her son, Adam, has made it a third-generation enterprise.

When Bonnie established her farm, she named it Blue Heaven, preserving a sweet memory of her father. Sy used to croon the popular song “My Blue Heaven” to little Bonnie, and its portrait of warm, homey family life adds an extra layer of meaning to the farm.

Yet beyond the sentimental aspects, there’s serious intellectual heft undergirding the operation. Bonnie, who earned a PhD in microbiology, is a biotech entrepreneur. Adam worked as a lawyer and investment banker in New York before making the radical lifestyle switch to taking care of horses. He now serves as president and general manager of their Kentucky farm.

Their commitment to Thoroughbred racing and breeding illustrates the intellectual appeal of the sport. It is a never-ending puzzle that requires rigorous research, analysis, creativity, and strategizing. Even then, the random roll of the genetic dice, and the vicissitudes of life, serve up uncontrollable variables.

That’s why the sport teaches humility, because you never can tell what might happen.

“We have no clue,” Corndorf said. “We don’t know any more than anyone else.”

Still, Blue Heaven has been playing its cards very well. Their smart broodmare acquisitions and mating arrangements are paying dividends in the sales ring and on the racetrack alike.

Blue Heaven purchased Canadian champion Starship Jubilee at the end of her five-year-old campaign, and she went on to score her biggest victories at six and seven. Voted Canada’s Horse of the Year after taking the 2019 E.P. Taylor (G1), Starship Jubilee defeated males in the 2020 Woodbine Mile (G1).

Another of those clutch mares was Tappan Street’s grandmother, Our Khrysty. Blue Heaven purchased her for $600,000 at the 2011 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November Sale when she was carrying her first foal.

Our Khrysty had won or placed in 13 of 18 starts, notably rallying from last to prevail by a nose in the 2010 Turnback the Alarm H. (G3) at Belmont Park. Her half-brother Bullsbay was pretty noteworthy too, as the upset winner of the 2009 Whitney H. (G1) at Saratoga who was third to Hall of Fame filly Rachel Alexandra in the Woodward (G1).

Our Khrysty has turned into an exceptional producer. Two of her offspring are Grade 1 performers – Grace Adler, winner of the 2021 Del Mar Debutante (G1), and Pyrenees, hero of last year’s Pimlico Special (G3) who placed in both the Stephen Foster (G1) and Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1).

Along with her ability, Our Khrysty is transmitting her strong-willed personality.

“Our Khrysty is just a very opinionated, bossy kind of mare,” Corndorf said. “She’s 19 years old and she hasn’t lost a single ounce of energy or enthusiasm or zest of living.

“She’s the queen of bossiness,” and her foals “all have her quirkiness, her stubbornness. They do what they want to do, when they want to do it.”

Pyrenees “was a clown, full of life,” Corndorf revealed. “I remember him as a foal with Our Khrysty. He would climb up, jump on her back. She loved him but had enough of him. She was pretty much ready to be done with him, by the time he was weaned.

“That craziness is getting diluted a little bit a couple of generations down,” but they “all seem to have that trait of being opinionated, that stubborn streak.”

While Grace Adler was sold for $700,000 as a yearling, Pyrenees didn’t bring a high enough bid at the sales. Blue Heaven kept him and opted to race him themselves.

It had been a similar story with Our Khrysty’s filly by Distorted Humor, Virginia Key, who was led out unsold for just $90,000 as a Keeneland September yearling. The lack of market interest ended up being a blessing in disguise for Blue Heaven, for Virginia Key would ultimately foal Tappan Street.

Virginia Key and Our Khrysty at Blue Heaven Farm

Tappan Street's mom Virginia Key and grandma Our Khrysty (Photo courtesy of Adam Corndorf/Blue Heaven Farm)

Virginia Key was sent to Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher. Corndorf had a bit of experience working for Pletcher as a groom and hot walker, his introductory course to life on the backstretch.

Although Virginia Key raced only four times, she won twice, and her close third in the 2018 Gazelle (G2) indicated that she could have reached a higher level. Unfortunately, she got cast in her stall, and her career was prematurely cut short by injury.

Corndorf, well aware of how differently things might have turned out, expressed gratitude for having Virginia Key in the broodmare band.

“Thank God we didn’t sell her as a yearling. Thank God her injury wasn’t more catastrophic.”

Virginia Key is firing on all cylinders as a producer. Her first foal is the stakes-placed filly Distorted d’Oro (by Medaglia d’Oro), Tappan Street is her second, and her third foal, the Curlin colt Weekend Glory, brought $1.4 million as a yearling at Keeneland last September.

Tappan Street, a son of perennial leading sire Into Mischief, is bred on a potent cross. Others by Into Mischief and out of Distorted Humor mares are Grade 1 stars Practical Joke and Life Is Good as well as Derby rival Citizen Bull, last year’s champion two-year-old colt.

Moreover, Tappan Street is closely related to Pyrenees, Virginia Key’s half-brother, who is also by Into Mischief. But he wasn’t as much of a handful as Pyrenees was as a baby.

Corndorf recalls Tappan Street more for his physical presence.

“He was always really big and really strong,” Corndorf said, adding that his weight remained on target at every developmental stage. “Tall, good weight, correct. He made things very easy on us.”

With his stellar combination of pedigree and conformation, the yet-unnamed colt sold for $1 million at the boutique Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale. He’s run up to his looks in all three starts so far.

Two of his co-owners – WinStar Farm and CHC – were involved in the partnership that campaigned Triple Crown champion Justify. WinStar also celebrated a Derby win with homebred Super Saver (2010). Tappan Street’s other co-owner, Cold Press Racing, is operated by Nick D’Amore, the grandson of the late Siena Farm proprietor Anthony Manganaro.

Trained by Brad Cox, Tappan Street made a winning debut at Gulfstream Park in a seven-furlong maiden on Dec. 28. The bay took a class and distance hike next time out in the Holy Bull (G3), where he struck the front but got run down late by Burnham Square. Tappan Street learned from that experience to win the Florida Derby (G1), driving to a 1 1/4-length victory.

Before Tappan Street’s rise this spring, another colt hailing from Blue Heaven had been prominent earlier on the Derby trail. Getaway Car, bred in partnership with the Curlin Syndicate, was among the flashy juveniles in the Bob Baffert barn.

Out of Blue Heaven’s mare Surrender Now, Getaway Car romped in last summer’s Best Pal (G3) at Del Mar. He finished second in the American Pharoah (G1) and Los Alamitos Futurity (G2) along with fourths in the Del Mar Futurity (G1) and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1). Getaway Car opened his sophomore season with a gutsy win in the Sunland Park Derby, but his ensuing fourth in the Virginia Derby suggested that he’d benefit from cutting back in distance.

Tappan Street looks like the type to excel over the Kentucky Derby trip. Although the lightly-raced colt doesn’t have as much seasoning, perhaps the fiery spirit of grandma Our Khrysty can compensate.

Postscript: Tappan Street is unfortunately out of the Kentucky Derby with an injury, but hopefully we can see him back on the racetrack in the future. With Blue Heaven Farm’s select collection of broodmares, we’re likely to see more of their offerings in the coming years on the Derby trail. Keep an eye out for Tappan Street’s two-year-old half-brother, Weekend Glory!

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