Analysis: Who Is Lucency? How a US Allowance-Class Horse Became Unbeatable at Padre Garcia

Lucency (by Tapwrit), winner of four straight in the Philippines, was not a star in the US but a solid allowance-class horse. His US record runs to 18 starts for 6 wins and about $300,000 in earnings, almost all of it in maiden and allowance company, with no stakes wins. As a yearling he fetched just $18,000 — cheap by US standards. Yet at Padre Garcia he holds two course records and has reeled off four straight wins for a combined margin of 38.5 lengths. His pedigree is genuinely good: by Belmont winner Tapwrit, out of a mare by the great broodmare sire Giant’s Causeway. The truth of Lucency is a well-bred US allowance horse who simply outclasses the current Philippine crop.

Lucency’s pedigree and background

Lucency is a chestnut horse foaled March 24, 2020, by Tapwrit (USA), out of Crowning Affair (USA), whose sire is Giant’s Causeway (USA). He was bred in Kentucky by Whisper Hill Farm, the operation of Mandy Pope, a breeder known for buying champions such as Havre de Grace and Royal Delta at auction. So he was born into the hands of a breeder who assembles good blood.

It helps to separate the roles in the pedigree:

• Sire Tapwrit (stallion): As a racehorse he won the 2017 Belmont Stakes (the final US Triple Crown leg). He now stands at stud.
• Dam Crowning Affair (broodmare): A bay mare by Giant’s Causeway, out of Capote’s Crown (by Capote). She is the mare that produced Lucency (more below).
• Damsire Giant’s Causeway (broodmare sire): First-rate as both racehorse and stallion, but here he matters as the source of the bottom-line blood.

Sire Tapwrit — a Tapit son who won the Belmont

Tapwrit was a US Classic winner on the track, but as a stallion his standing has slipped toward the regional and inexpensive. A gray foaled March 28, 2014, he is by the great modern American sire Tapit, out of Appealing Zophie (by Successful Appeal). On the track he won 13 races, including the 2017 Belmont Stakes (G1) and the Tampa Bay Derby (G2) that year, earning about $1.23 million. He was trained by the leading Todd Pletcher. His Belmont was Tapit’s third Belmont winner in four years, one mark of how well Tapit’s stock stays for the Classic distances.

His stud career is the other half of the story. Tapwrit was bought for $1.2 million at Fasig-Tipton in 2015 and entered stud at Gainesway in Kentucky. But his fee has fallen year by year — from $12,500 in 2019 to $7,500 in 2024–2025, and $2,500 in 2026 — and he has since moved to Indiana Stallion Station in Indiana. He has produced Smarty Jones Stakes winner Victory Formation, but commercially he now sits as a low-fee regional stallion.

The sire line is worth tracing too. Tapit descends through Pulpit and A.P. Indy to Seattle Slew, one of the dominant American male lines. Lucency therefore carries a Seattle Slew-line sire.

Damsire Giant’s Causeway — first-rate blood on the bottom line

Giant’s Causeway is the kind of first-rate blood that turns up on the dam’s side of many Philippine runners. Nicknamed “The Iron Horse” in his racing days, he went on to huge success both as a sire and as a broodmare sire. He is by Storm Cat, out of Mariah’s Storm (by Rahy), and his male line traces to Northern Dancer. As a stallion he produced 196 stakes winners (7.6%) from 2,571 named foals.

Lucency’s pedigree is therefore a cross of mainstream American blood — a Seattle Slew-line sire (Tapit) over a Storm Cat / Northern Dancer-line damsire (Giant’s Causeway). It is a different family from the Sunday Silence line that dominates in Japan, and a typical blood pattern for the US-breds being imported to the Philippines. As covered in the record bloodline influx, the horses arriving in the Philippines in recent years are mostly this kind of mainstream American stock.

Dam Crowning Affair and the female family

As a racehorse, Crowning Affair was a “condition horse” much like Lucency himself. A bay mare foaled May 5, 2013, she is by Giant’s Causeway, out of Capote’s Crown (by Capote). She was both bred and owned by Whisper Hill Farm, the same operation that bred Lucency. Her record was 12 starts for 1 win (1 second, 4 thirds) and about $52,000 in earnings; she ran in allowance company at Gulfstream Park and Aqueduct, and her only win came in a maiden special weight at Gulfstream Park in April 2016 (source: Equibase).

Her market value is telling as well. As a yearling Crowning Affair was offered at the Keeneland September sale but was bought back (RNA) even at a bid of $425,000. She was later sold as a broodmare, in foal to Daredevil, for $15,000 to Grumpa Bloodstock at the Keeneland November sale (source: Equibase). Even a mare by Giant’s Causeway was not a horse that commanded a high price.

Lucency in the US — a condition horse, not a stakes horse

This is the most important point for understanding Lucency. In the US he was not a stakes-level horse but a condition-race horse. Per Equibase (as of June 26, 2026, including all races available), his record is 18 starts for 6 wins, with 3 seconds and 1 third, and about $299,730 in earnings. He ran at Aqueduct, Saratoga and Churchill Downs, mostly in maiden and allowance company, with no stakes (graded) wins (irishracing.com). US programs build up from maiden to allowance to stakes, and Lucency was the type to pick up wins steadily at that middle, allowance level.

His sale prices back up the “condition horse” read. Per Equibase’s auction history, Lucency was sold cheaply as a yearling at OBS (Ocala Breeders’ Sales) in Florida, and again later at a horses-of-racing-age sale.

$18,000 as a yearling is cheap at a US auction. Even with a Belmont winner as his sire, he was a horse the market did not bid up.

So by US measures he was an inexpensive, solid-but-not-elite horse. That he dominates in the Philippines is simply because he is superior to the local crop. A cheap US allowance horse rewrites the clock and romps home in the Philippines’ headline races. That gap itself reflects the relationship between the current competitive level of Philippine racing and the quality of the horses being imported.

Why he is unbeatable at Padre Garcia

Lucency’s “unbeatable” run can be explained by two things: the horse’s own ability, and the structure of Philippine racing.

First, the ability gap. A horse that earned about $300,000 at allowance level in the US is clearly superior to the current Philippine crop. At Padre Garcia, Lucency has run 1300m in 1:14.60 and 1650m in 1:38.48, holding the course record at both. He set the 1650m mark in March carrying 56kg while beating the 54kg Buzz Rocket (a half-brother to California Chrome) by 13 lengths. That same March he also won the Philracom – Manila Horse Power Stakes Race III, a local Group 3.

Second, the race structure. Lucency wins mostly in special conditions races that carry no penalty for winning, so a win does not add weight to his next start. The design lets an improving, superior horse keep winning. The details of that structure are set out in the Porsche Cup write-up. An imported horse with a clear edge, plus a program with no penalty, is exactly what produces four straight wins and a combined 38.5-length margin.

That edge will not necessarily last forever, though. Once the ratings catch up with his form and the conditions of rivals, weight and distance shift, there is no guarantee he keeps winning by the same margins. For now, “unbeatable” is best read as the well-bred condition horse’s ability and the Philippine race structure lining up together.

Related articles

• Lucency Romps Home in the Porsche Cup for a Fourth Straight Win — the fourth win and the structure of penalty-free special conditions races
• New Bloodlines Arrive — A Record Influx — the supply-side push that brings in US mainstream blood like Lucency’s
• Is the Philippines Asian Racing’s Sleeping Giant? — the local competitive level and where the market stands

Summary

Lucency was a US allowance-class horse — 18 starts for 6 wins, about $300,000 in earnings, an $18,000 yearling — with no stakes wins. His sire Tapwrit is a $2,500 regional stallion in 2026, his dam Crowning Affair changed hands for $15,000, and the horse himself went for $18,000 as a yearling: sire, dam and the horse alike were not highly valued by the US market. That he now sets course records at Padre Garcia and has won four straight for a combined 38.5 lengths comes down to the inherent ability of good blood — by Belmont winner Tapwrit, out of a Giant’s Causeway mare — standing above the current crop. Layer on the penalty-free special conditions races, and the edge shows up directly in the results. A US condition horse dominating locally is a useful gauge of Philippine racing’s competitive level and the quality of its imports, and one this site will keep following.

Sources

• irishracing.com “Lucency (USA)” profile (pedigree, US form)
• Horse Racing Nation “Lucency” profile (sire/dam, breeder, US connections)
• Equibase “Horse Profile for Lucency”
• Wikipedia “Tapwrit” (Belmont win, pedigree, stud career)
• Gainesway “Belmont Stakes winner Tapwrit enters stud at Gainesway”
• Philstar Pang-Masa “Lucency kampeon sa 4YO Imported-Local Challenge race” (March 3, 2026)
• Philippine Jockey Club “Lucency Dominant in Porsche Cup” (June 25, 2026)
• Philippine Jockey Club “Lucency Aiming for the Quadrella” (June 20, 2026)