Unbridled Outlaw looks for breakout win
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Unbridled Outlaw was supposed to have been past this by now. The 3-year-old colt has competed in five graded stakes, yet here he is, still eligible for a first-level allowance condition.
“It’s been a combination of tough luck and circumstances,” said Dale Romans, who trains Unbridled Outlaw for the Albaugh Family Stable. “He’s going real good right now, so hopefully we’ll knock out that a-other-than condition this week.”
Unbridled Outlaw, with Corey Lanerie to ride, figures as a solid favorite when the final five-day stretch of the Churchill Downs fall meet commences Wednesday. He’s part of an oversubscribed field in race 9, the second of back-to-back allowances anchoring a 10-race card which starts at 1 p.m. Eastern.
Unbridled Outlaw has been held in high regard since early in his 2-year-old season, when he finished third in the Iroquois at Churchill following a maiden victory at odds-on. Romans and the Albaughs – who have one of the early favorites for the 2017 Kentucky Derby in Not This Time – gave the colt ample chance to prove himself, but he has mostly disappointed, finishing off the board in such races as the Arkansas Derby and Dwyer Stakes.
Finally given class relief last month at Keeneland, Unbridled Outlaw was defeated less than a length in two races very similar to this.
The earlier Wednesday allowance (race 8) is a second-level turf sprint that lured plenty of early speed, with Tanner’s Popsicle, Tigger Town, and Lewys Vaporizer likely to contest the pace amid the field of 10. Partly Mocha, the lukewarm morning-line favorite, will be among those looking to capitalize late.
Both allowances are part of a single six sequence that runs from races 5 through 10. The 20-cent wager has not been swept since the meet opened Oct. 30, and its rollover jackpot has grown to $139,275 for Wednesday.
Forecasters are calling for an 80 percent chance of rain Wednesday before conditions clear up through the Thanksgiving weekend. The 21-day meet ends Sunday.
