King: Untapable almost matches Rachel's Beyer
Friday, May 2, recap
The third-highest attendance in Kentucky Oaks history, 113,071 fans, turned out to watch Untapable turn in the most sparkling Oaks performance since eventual Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra won the race by more than 20 lengths in 2009.
Although Untapable’s winning margin was nowhere near that of Rachel Alexandra’s, she ran almost as fast as her on a Beyer Speed Figure scale, earning a 107, compared with the 108 posted by Rachel Alexandra. Untapable’s final time was swift – 1 1/8 miles in 1:48.68, just off Bird Town’s 2003 stakes record of 1:48.64.
Beyond the speed in which she won the race, she was less keen than in some of her earlier races, shutting off down the backstretch after jockey Rosie Napravnik placed her in a favorable stalking position on the outside.
Then, when Napravnik asked her to accelerate, she did, drawing away from My Miss Sophia to win by 4 1/2 lengths, with the rest of the field left far behind.
Five other stakes also were part of the card.
Next to Untapable, the fastest stakes winners on the Oaks undercard were Moonshine Mullin (100 Beyer), who scored an upset victory in the Alysheba; Marchman (99), who won his second straight grass stakes in the Twin Spires Turf Sprint; and Fiftyshadesofgold (94), a filly who won the Eight Belles after previously finishing second to Untapable in the Fair Grounds Oaks.
The two others who won stakes were On Fire Baby (94), who took the Grade 1 La Troienne early in the day, and A Little Bit Sassy (84), the winner of the Edgewood for 3-year-old fillies on turf.
Also worthy of note was Brazen Persuasion’s eye-catching win in her 3-year-old debut in a second-level allowance in which she outran older fillies and mares. A graded stakes winner last year, she was rank after a slow start in her return, tugging hard at Napravnik.
Usually, a horse will tire after fighting the rider, but she still had plenty left in the stretch and drew away. She raced six furlongs in 1:09.31, earning a 93 Beyer. She is far too speed-crazy to suggest she can be more than a sprinter, but she has the potential to be a player in a race like the Grade 1 Test at seven furlongs this summer at Saratoga.
Horse to Watch
Little Journey
Trainer: Chad Brown
Last race: May 2, 9th
Finish: 3rd by 1 1/2
Beyer: 81
Making her first start in the States after being imported from Europe, she was too eager in the early stages, fighting with her rider; this isn’t atypical for a European import, though usually when they do it, the horse ultimately backs up in the lane; she fought to the wire, gamely holding the third-place position.