Saratoga: Unbridled Forever returns with win in Shine Again

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Unbridled Forever and Stonetastic were the class of the field assembled for Wednesday’s $100,000 Shine Again Stakes at Saratoga. The question was whether the two fillies would show any rust from having been idle since the end of their 2014 campaigns.

The answer to that question turned out to be an unequivocal "no" after Unbridled Forever ran down the 2-1 favorite Stonetastic in the final strides to register a neck decision in the seven-furlong Shine Again, a race written for fillies and mares who had not won a graded stakes in 2015.

Unbridled Forever had not started since finishing fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, her return to the races delayed by several issues that included a bout with colic over the winter. But trainer Dallas Stewart said she was feeling great and training well coming into the Shine Again, which he hoped would be the first step on the road to getting her back to the Breeders’ Cup again later this year.

With John Velazquez aboard, Unbridled Forever set up shop in the middle of the pack while racing near the inside and reserved off the early pace of Stonetastic. The leader settled into the stretch with a seemingly comfortable advantage, but Unbridled Forever finished full of run from between horses once being tipped out for the drive, rallying down the center of the course to run down the leader in the closing strides.

Stonetastic finished fourth after setting the pace in the 2014 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, but had not started since closing out the season with a seventh-place finish in the Grade 1 La Brea on Dec. 26. She quickly sprinted clear under jockey Paco Lopez, appeared home free leaving the furlong pole, but could not contain the winner’s late surge.

Unbridled Forever and Stonetastic separated themselves from the rest of the field at the end, finishing nearly five lengths in front of Taketheodds, who outlasted the others to be third.

Unbridled Forever, a homebred daughter of Unbridled’s Song owned by Charles Fipke, completed the distance over a fast track in 1:22.90 and paid $9.30.

“She ran great, didn’t she,” said Stewart by phone from Kentucky where he is recuperating from recent kidney stone surgery. I know seven furlongs is really not her best distance, but she’s class and she had a class rider on her. We knew she had to have a little luck [to win], she got out, and was able to get there in time.”

Stewart said Unbridled Forever will stretch back out around two turns when she comes back in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign going a mile and an eighth on Aug. 29.