Apple Blossom repeat won't be easy for Untapable
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The champion Untapable will have to overcome a significant new rival in Tara’s Tango and a formidable local in Call Pat to win her second consecutive edition of the Grade 1, $600,000 Apple Blossom Handicap on Friday at Oaklawn Park. She is the 120-pound highweight in a six-horse field that also includes Forever Unbridled, a multiple Grade 3 winner making her first start at Oaklawn, and the stakes winners Streamline and Theogony.
The Apple Blossom, for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles, continues the $3.75 million Racing Festival of the South. It is one of just two Grade 1 races in the Mid-South region that covers Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas. The other is the Arkansas Derby, which will be run on the closing-day card Saturday.
Untapable, an eight-time graded stakes winner, will be getting a rematch with Call Pat, who edged her by a neck in last month’s Grade 2 Azeri at Oaklawn. That start was Untapable’s first since October, and Steve Asmussen, who trains the mare for her breeder, Winchell Thoroughbreds, likes how she is coming up to this year’s Apple Blossom.
“I think we’re in good shape,” he said. “I think she settled in nice off of her first race and is training really well. Hopefully, she can duplicate her victory in the Apple Blossom.”
Apple Blossom, Race 9
KEY CONTENDERS
Untapable, by Tapit
Last 3 Beyers: 88-98-96
◗ Untapable won last year’s Apple Blossom in her second start off a layoff, following a runner-up finish in the Azeri. She has remained at Oaklawn to train between starts, just like last year, and had her final work for the race Sunday. She went a half-mile in 50 seconds under exercise rider Abel Flores.
“I thought she looked beautiful,” Asmussen said. “She was very relaxed, traveled great. She’s doing wonderful.”
◗ Florent Geroux has the mount from post 4. Untapable, who has tactical speed, could set the fractions in a race that does not appear to have an abundance of pace, or she could track Southern California invader Tara’s Tango.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 4 Untapable. Trainer Steve Asmussen is 57-13-11-8 with a $2.43 ROI over the past five years in dirt route graded stakes in the second start following a layoff. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
:: Learn more about Formulator | Buy Formulator PPs
:: Follow the @DRFFormulator Twitter feed and get free Formulator facts
Tara’s Tango, by Unbridled’s Song
Last 3 Beyers: 87-77-85
◗ She enters the Apple Blossom off back-to-back stakes wins, taking the Grade 2 Santa Maria in February and the Grade 1 Santa Margarita in March. In the Santa Margarita, she rallied for a one-length win over Taris.
“She ran a huge race,” said Jerry Hollendorfer, who trains Tara’s Tango for Stonestreet Stables. “I thought she had a very good trip, got in gear kind of late, and ended up running down a pretty good field.”
◗ Hollendorfer said the effort led him to target the Apple Blossom with a filly who is bigger and stronger this year at age 4. Tara’s Tango will break from post 3 under Rafael Bejarano.
“We feel like she can run on the front end or she can lay back off of the pace,” Hollendorfer said. “She’s very flexible.”
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 3 Tara’s Tango. Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer is 23-3-2-4 with a $0.87 ROI over the past two years in graded stakes outside of California. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
Call Pat, by Lawyer Ron
Last 3 Beyers: 89-89-87
◗ She has been in the zone at Oaklawn, winning the Grade 3 Bayakoa in her 6-year-old debut Feb. 14. She then closed from 13 lengths back to capture the Azeri.
“Big effort,” said trainer Brad Cox. “Probably a little surprising we beat Untapable, but I think we caught her off the layoff. I’m sure she’ll probably improve a bit. But our mare’s tough. If we get the trip – weave through horses, save as much ground as possible around the first turn and second turn – we’ll come running. She’s doing great, and she shows up every time.”
◗ Call Pat will break from the rail under Joe Rocco Jr.
“She has that one move,” Cox said. “She starts at the half-mile pole, three-eighths pole and just keeps coming.”
◗ Call Pat races for Miller Racing.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 5 Forever Unbridled. Trainer Dallas Stewart is 30-1-4-3 with a $0.27 ROI over the past five years in Grade 1 stakes. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan