Breeders' Cup Distaff -- Forever Unbridled

Everyone knows who the big guns are in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) – Beholder, Songbird, Stellar Wind – but what about the rest of the field? Check out some of the other contenders in the 1 1/8-mile affair based on their 2016 records alone.

Forever Unbridled – 5-3-1-1, $1,100,000

Owner: Charles E. Fipke
Trainer: Dallas Stewart

Forever Unbridled and Songbird are the only two Distaff runners who have cracked a million in earnings for 2016. The former did so while competing almost exclusively against Grade 1 rivals.

Forever Unbridled kicked off her four-year-old campaign at Sam Houston on January 30, taking the Houston Ladies Classic (G3) by 1 3/4 lengths. She wouldn’t be seen in competition again until showing up at Oaklawn Park for the April 15 Apple Blossom Handicap (G1). The bay filly added that prestigious event to her resume with a 2 1/4-length triumph and then once again was given a break.

Forever Unbridled’s final three starts leading up to the Distaff all took place in New York, beginning with the June 11 Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park. She was forced to wait in that contest and then swung out five and six wide to rally for second.

Next up was Saratoga’s Personal Ensign Stakes (G1), where the daughter of Unbridled’s Song ran in third throughout and filled that spot in a four-horse blanket finish on the wire. It was back to Belmont and a 2 1/4-length score in the Beldame Invitational (G1) over a muddy, sloppy track on October 1, and Forever Unbridled enters the Distaff off that messy, but relatively easy, win.