Mandy Pope is not afraid to spend big money. Is she about to win the Kentucky Derby?

Even at the princely sum of $1.3 million, Tapit Trice is far from the most expensive equine purchase made by Amanda Pope, but he might be the most important.

Tapit Trice could make Pope a Kentucky Derby winner.

“I’m very excited,” Pope said during Keeneland’s Spring Meet. “The Derby is a dream, a very hard-earned dream.”

After all, the gray/roan son of super sire Tapit has won four straight races for trainer Todd Pletcher, including the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby and Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes heading into Saturday’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. Post time is 6:57 p.m. on NBC.

“He handled Keeneland really, really well. He loves Churchill even more,” Pope’s racing manager, Todd Quast, said after Tapit Trice worked in Louisville on Saturday. “It could be scary, could be scary.”

Capturing the roses would be the crowning achievement for Pope, the daughter of John William Pope, founder of Variety Wholesalers. The Henderson, N.C.-based company operates more than 400 discount stores in 14 states, including Roses, Maxway, Super Dollar, Popes, Eagles and Super 10. Pope founded the John William Pope Foundation in 1986 before passing away in 2006.

Mandy Pope puts a good deal of her time and energy into Whisper Hill Farm, just outside of Ocala, Fla. She also operates a training center in Citra, three miles from Whisper Hill.

That’s when Pope is not at horse sales strengthening her already impressive broodmare stock at jaw-dropping prices.

At a 2012 Fasig-Tipton Sale in Lexington, she paid $10 million for 2011 Horse of the Year Havre de Grace, who passed away Sunday. It was the highest price paid for a horse at public auction, breaking the record of $9 million paid for Ashado in 2005. A day later, she paid $4.2 million for 2011 Kentucky Oaks winner Plum Pretty.

“Probably the worst part of it all was the media attention it garnered,” Pope said last year.

That hasn’t stopped her, however. She paid $9.5 million for the mare Songbird in 2017. She paid $8.2 million for the American Pharoah filly America’s Joy at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Alas, America’s Joy died after suffering a catastrophic leg injury while training at Saratoga as a 3-year-old. Pope kept her cremated ashes on her desk in her Florida office.

Whisper Hill has been racing horses in various ownership capacities since 2002. It has raced a pair of Kentucky Derby horses — Mylute, who finished fifth for trainer Tom Amoss in 2013, and Charge It, who ran 17th for Pletcher last year. Charge It was out of the Indian Charlie mare I’ll Take Charge, whom Pope bought for $2.2 million at Keeneland in 2013.

Pope has had a long partnership with Antony Beck at Gainesway Farm, who bred Tapit Trice. When the yearling came up for auction at Keeneland in 2021, Pope bought the daughter of Danzatrice, by Dunkirk for $1.3 million. After the sale, Gainesway Stable bought back into Tapit Trice.

The 22-year-old Tapit has led the North American sires list three times. His current fee is $180,000 at Gainesway, after commanding as high as $300,000. Tapit has produced four Belmont Stakes winners (Creator, Tapwrit, Tonalist and Essential Quality) as well as last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Flightline. He has never produced a Kentucky Derby winner, however.

Tapit Trice could change that. The colt has not lost since a third-place finish in his debut last November.

“He’s one that identified himself early on with real talent,” said Pletcher, who won the Kentucky Derby in 2010 with Super Saver and 2017 with Always Dreaming. “We knew he wasn’t a quick horse, he wasn’t a sprinter. We started him off at a mile and he closed well that day. Put in a courageous race the next time, then he won the mile allowance race at Gulfstream impressively. So we started thinking that once we get him stretched out he’d be even better.”

As for Pope, the investment is paying off.

“These things take time, especially from a breeding standpoint,” Quast said Saturday. “It’s all coming full circle and I couldn’t be happier for her. She really is enjoying every bit of it.”

2023 Kentucky Derby

When: 6:57 p.m. Saturday

Where: Churchill Downs in Louisville

TV: NBC

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