Distaff favorite Untapable displays air of confidence

ARCADIA, Calif. – Untapable was up early Friday, strutting her stuff before dawn at Santa Anita with a smug attitude, appropriate for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff favorite.

It was 5:30 a.m. when Untapable and exercise rider Carlos Rosas left the Barn 58 of trainer Steve Asmussen for a one-mile gallop. Untapable was alert and confident. The winner of the Kentucky Oaks and two other Grade 1 races, Untapable is good. And she knows it.

“She’s a little cocky right now,” assistant trainer Scott Blasi said.

It was a compliment. In her walk, gallops, and workouts, Untapable looks and acts like a queen. The good ones often do.

“They have a personality, a long, confident walk,” Blasi said. “They have a presence about them.”

Untapable took her time getting to the racetrack. She backtracked to the five-eighths pole under Rosas, galloped once around at 5:45, returned via the grandstand tunnel through the paddock and back to the barn like it was no big deal.

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“She’s home, and she’s content,” Blasi said.

Untapable has been stabled at Santa Anita for nearly a month and has settled in. She glided through a visually impressive workout Oct. 19 and is scheduled for her final workout Sunday.

Trio of works in Kentucky

On Friday morning in Kentucky, three Distaff pre-entrants posted their final workouts for the race. Don’t Tell Sophia and Ria Antonia each worked a half-mile at Keeneland, and Unbridled Forever worked five furlongs at Churchill Downs.

Don’t Tell Sophia won the Grade 1 Spinster Stakes on Oct. 18; trainer Phil Sims said she has maintained form. Sims occasionally employs an unorthodox workout method and did so Friday with Don’t Tell Sophia.

Sims said Don’t Tell Sophia “two-minute-clipped” for three-sixteenths of a mile, broke into a half-mile workout in 48 seconds, and galloped out five furlongs in 1:01 on his watch.

“When all was said and done, it was a little more than a half,” Sims said.

Don’t Tell Sophia is the likely third choice in the Distaff behind Untapable and Close Hatches. Don’t Tell Sophia will ship to California on Sunday.

Ria Antonia worked for trainer Tom Amoss.

“It was an easy half; she was in hand the whole way,” Amoss said. “The objective was to keep her on an even keel mentally.”

Ria Antonia won the BC Juvenile Fillies one year ago via disqualification and comes off a good runner-up finish in the Spinster.

Unbridled Forever worked five furlongs at Churchill Downs in 1:02.20.

“It was nice and even. She galloped out and came back good, not blowing,” trainer Dallas Stewart said.

Unbridled Forever will be an outsider in the Distaff.

The Distaff field, with riders: Untapable, Rosie Napravnik; Close Hatches, Joel Rosario; Don’t Tell Sophia, Joe Rocco; Iotapa, Joe Talamo; Tiz Midnight, Victor Espinoza; Ria Antonia, Paco Lopez; Belle Gallantey, Jose Ortiz; Valiant Emilia, Rafael Bejarano; Stanwyck, Corey Nakatani; and Unbridled Forever, John Velazquez.

Parranda and L’Amour de Ma Vie were cross-entered in the Filly and Mare Turf. Elvis Trujillo rides Parranda; a riding assignment is unknown for European shipper L’Amour de Ma Vie.