First to Act, a late-blooming daughter of Curlin, finished a resolute 2nd to Leader of the Band in Friday's Listed Summer Colony S. at Saratoga.

The Andrew Rosen homebred thus becomes the 2nd black-type earner out of Gr3 winner First Passage, whose daughter Fashion Tap was a one-time private purchase. First to Act won two of her prior four career starts, including a July 10th Belmont Park allowance by 5 1/2 lengths.

The 4yo Shug McGaughey pupil stepped up into a field of conspicuous depth. Leader of the Band, winner of the Gr3 Monmouth Oaks a year ago, brought solid form into the Summer Colony, while MGSWs Envoutante and Bonny South rounded out the first four placings.

From the time of our initial purchase out of the family, the depth on First to Act's page has gone from strength to strength. Her 1/2 Berned was a Gr3 winner/MGSP, while the extended clan now includes major Triple Crown prep winners Magnum Moon, Pinehurst, and We the People.

Fashion Tap this season produced for breeder Hugh Moore a colt by Curlin's multiple Gr1-winning son Good Magic, and thus similarly bred top and bottom to First to Act. The hope here is the Tapit mare becomes the next stakes producer from this dynamic American family.

Firs to Act graduating in April at Aqueduct for Shug McGaughey and owner/breeder Andrew Rosen. NYRA photo.