Rejoice, “Pulp Fiction” fans! Honey Bunny won the Winning Colors S.-G3 at Churchill Downs on May 25! The five-year-old mare by Tapizar, claimed in 2018 for $16,000, has now won her last five races in a row, and her first graded stakes, making her Tapizar’s fourth graded stakes winner.

The fourth crop sire, now ranked in eighth place on that list, stands at Gainesway Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, for $10,000, and is a stout, handsome son of Tapit who made waves last year when his brilliant Monomoy Girl was named Champion Three-Year-Old Filly, after winning a rash of Grade One stakes including the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, the CCA Oaks, the Acorn, the Kentucky Oaks and the Ashland, finishing second only once in G1 company in the Cotillion S. to Midnight Bisou (because of a DQ), and earning just under three million dollars.

But, wait a minute. When you look at Honey Bunny’s pedigree, doesn’t it ring a bell in your reptile brain? Because Honey Bunny and Monomoy Girl are bred so similarly it’s eerie, and provide insight into what works with Tapizar. Monomoy Girl is out or the Henny Hughes mare Drumette, whose great grandfather is Storm Cat, of course. Her second dam, Endless Parade, is by Williamstown, a son of Seattle Slew.

Honey Bunny is out of the Storm Cat mare Sennockian Storm, and her second dam is Winning Season, by Lemon Drop Kid. His dam is the Seattle Slew mare, Charming Lassie. So Honey Bunny has Storm Cat in the second position in her dams’ side, and Seattle Slew in the fifth position, while Monomoy Girl has Storm Cat in the fourth position on her dams’ side, and Seattle Slew in the fourth position.

This makes both Honey Bunny and Monomoy Girl inbred to Seattle Slew, on the zigzag, 5 x 4 in Monomoy Girl, 5 x 5 in Honey Bunny. With both having the Storm Cat in their dams’ side, the Nijinsky II and Unbridled in Tapizar reach out and adore the Storm Cat, not to mention the doubling of Secretariat, through A.P. Indy’s dam, Weekend Surprise, and Storm Cat’s dam, Terlingua, two of the greatest Secretariat mares ever. The similarities are downright eerie.

Monomoy Girl is still on hiatus from a bout with colic, but supposedly about to return to training, and Honey Bunny is going strong with her five-race win streak for trainer John Ortiz. The pattern discovered here is clear: mares from the Storm Cat sire line, with another dose of Seattle Slew through the second dam, seem to be a stone cold nick with young stud Tapizar, who, at $10,000, is a bargain if you’ve got the right mare.

-- Roberta Smoodin