Daring Tact is a brown filly with a small white star bred in Japan by the Hasegawa Bokujo. As a yearling in 2018 she was put up for auction at the Japan Racing Horse Association Select Sale of Yearlings and was bought for ¥12,960,000 by the Normandy Farm. She was sent into training with Haruki Sugiyama. She was from the first crop of foals sired by Epiphaneia who won the Kikuka Sho and the Japan Cup and was rated the second-best horse in the world in 2014. Daring Tact's dam Daring Bird showed no racing ability but was a daughter of Daring Heart who won the Queen Stakes and Fuchu Himba Stakes as well as being placed in the Oka Sho, NHK Mile Cup and Victoria Mile. Daring Heart was a daughter of the American-bred broodmare Daring Danzig, who was exported to Japan after being sold for $435,000 at Keeneland in November 1998.
On 8 February 2020 Daring Tact began her second campaign in the Listed Elfin Stakes over 1600 metres at Kyoto. She came from tenth place on final turn before showing "top-class acceleration" to take the lead100 metres from the finish and drew away to win by four lengths. Her trainer Haruki Sugiyama later commented "She was agitated behind the gate and she didn’t break very well. She did settle during the trip however, and displayed a good turn of foot over the last furlong." On 12 April at Hanshin Racecourse Daring Tact was stepped up in class to contest the 80th running of the Oka Sho over 1600 metres in which she was ridden by Kohei Matsuyama and went off the 3.2/1 second favourite behind Resistencia. The other sixteen runners included Sanctuaire, Ria Amelia, Maltese Diosa, Miyamazakura, Smile Kana, Woman's Heart and Epos. In a race run inheavy rain, Daring Tact was restrained towards the rear of the field before making rapid progress on the wide outside on the final turn. She maintained her progress as the front-runners tired, overtook Resistencia inside the last 50 metres and was finishing to such effect that she won by one and a half lengths. Resistencia held on for second ahead of Smile Kana and Cravache d'Or. After the race Matsuyama said "I concentrated on her rhythm more than where to position her today. We were far behind the leaders and desperate in catching up but she responded beautifully and stretched incredibly all the way to the line." At Tokyo Racecourse on 24 May Daring Tact was moved up in distance and started the 0.6/1 favourite for the 2400 metre Yushun Himba. Her opponents on this occasion included Des Ailes, Cravache d'Or, Miyamazakura, Sanctuaire, Win Marilyn, Ria Amelia, Smile Kana, Maltese Diosa, Woman's Heart and Ablaze. Daring Tact started well before being settled towards the rear of the field as Smile Kana set the pace. The stablemates Win Mighty and Win Marilyn went past the early leaders in the straight and looked to have the race between then, but Daring Tact, having briefly struggled to obtain a clear run, accelerated through a narrow gap, gained the advantage in the final strides and won by half a length. Win Marilyn beat Win Mighty a neck for second with fourth place going to Ria Amelia. Matsuyama commented "we were bumped a few times, so I decided to keep her relaxed in a lower position than planned. She instantly kicked into gear once out of traffic in the straight and showed another amazing run down the middle of the lane. Her tremendous burst of speed was extraordinary. It was the first time I rode a favorite and I admit I felt the pressure, so I’m relieved".
Pedigree
Daring Tact was inbred 3 × 4 to Sunday Silence, meaning that this stallion appears in both the third and fourth generations of her pedigree.
