Untapable headed to Churchill following Apple Blossom victory

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – As if Untapable’s win in the Grade 1, $600,000 Apple Blossom Handicap on Friday at Oaklawn Park weren’t enough excitement for Winchell Thoroughbreds and trainer Steve Asmussen, the champion became a big sister Saturday.

Fun House, the dam of Untapable, foaled a full sister to the champion at 12:20 a.m. in Lexington, Ky., according to Asmussen. He received a text with a picture of the new Tapit filly from Winchell Thoroughbreds racing and farm manager David Fiske. She sports a beautiful blaze that is somewhat similar to Untapable’s.

“It’s Disney movie stuff,” Asmussen said Saturday. “We took a picture of Untapable’s face and sent it back and said, ‘Big Sis says welcome to the world!’ ”

Oaklawn was Untapable’s world Saturday, and she rolled to a 2 1/2-length win in the Apple Blossom, one of the most significant races on the calendar for fillies and mares. For her effort in the 1 1/16-mile handicap in which she was the 121-pound highweight, Untapable earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 99. The win was her first at 4, and it came one start after she started her season with a second-place finish in last month’s Grade 2, $300,000 Azeri at Oaklawn.

Untapable earned the Eclipse Award as champion 3-year-old filly of 2014 for a campaign that included wins in the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs and the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita. The Apple Blossom victory was very meaningful, Asmussen reflected Saturday.

“It’s everything you’re hoping for,” he said. “We have a champion filly back in the winner’s circle in a Grade 1. When she went back in training, that exact moment was what it was for.”

Asmussen said Untapable emerged from the Apple Blossom in good order and now will head to Kentucky.

“She will go to Churchill on Monday,” he said. “Churchill is a very nice place to train her because of the time she spent there. I think she’ll settle in nicely, and we will just let her have a couple breezes back there and then decide what’s next. I think our early season goal was met with the Apple Blossom.”

Asmussen said the year-end goal for Untapable remains a defense of her title in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.