Untapable begins preparations for five-year-old campaign

Edited Press Release

Winchell Thoroughbreds’ homebred champion Untapable took the first steps toward what will likely be her final season of racing on Thursday morning.

The Steve Asmussen-trained five-year-old worked an easy half-mile over Fair Grounds’ fast main track in :52. The work ranked 52nd of 57 moves at the distance and was little more than a leg-stretcher for the five-time Grade 1 winner.

“Untapable is doing great,” Asmussen said after the work.

“She did great up here (in Kentucky),” echoed David Fiske, Winchell’s racing manager. “She went from Keeneland to the farm to spend some time in the hyperbaric chamber. She was turned out in round pens and had a little break and then got to the Fair Grounds around the second week of December.

“We haven’t decided on (a campaign) or anything yet, but the ($600,000) Apple Blossom ([G1] at Oaklawn Park on April 15) is a possibility. It all depends on how she comes around and it’s still a ways out. Right now she looks great and (Asmussen) said he’s really happy with how she’s doing.”

Winner of the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) at Santa Anita Park, Untapable was scratched three days prior to that same event at Keeneland in 2015 with a temperature and has not raced since finishing second in the Spinster S. (G1) at Keeneland on October 4.

Overall, Untapable nine wins from 17 starts and is one of only three fillies – along with Ashado and Princess Rooney – to win both the Kentucky Oaks (G1) and Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

Also working for Winchell Thoroughbreds and Asmussen on Thursday was Just Wicked, who turned five furlongs in 1:02.20.

A daughter of Tapit like Untapable, Just Wicked captured last year’s Adirondack S. (G2) at Saratoga but hasn’t competed since finishing sixth as the 2-1 favorite in the Alcibiades S. (G1) at Keeneland on October 2.

“We don't have anything immediately planned for her,” Fiske said of the three-year-old filly. “We might try her sprinting a couple times and see if that’s what she really wants to do. Things didn’t set up quite right for her at the end of the year, so maybe that’s why she didn’t run well. Everything is on the table with her. Tapits seem to run well on lots of surfaces and distances.”

Earlier this week, other well-regarded Asmussen-trained sophomore fillies took to Fair Grounds’ fast main track.

Nickname, an LNJ Foxwoods-campaigned daughter of Scat Daddy, readied for her three-year-old bow with a three-quarter move in 1:12.80 on Tuesday. The dark bay miss captured the Frizette S. (G1) at Belmont Park prior to finishing fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) at Keeneland last October.

Mike G. Rutherford’s Stageplay recorded her first move since a professional victory in the January 16 Silverbulletday S. when going a half-mile in :51.60 on Monday. Asmussen confirmed that Stageplay will be pointed to the second leg of Fair Grounds’ three major steppingstones to the Kentucky Oaks (G1) – the $200,000 TwinSpires.com Rachel Alexandra S. (G3) on February 20.

Untapable photo courtesy of Breeders’ Cup Ltd.