Untapable, Tapiture look strong in morning workouts

Ron Winchell's homebred operation enjoyed a stellar 2014 Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita as Kentucky Oaks heroine Untapable won the BC Distaff to secure a divisional championship and multiple graded stakes winner Tapiture finished second in the BC Dirt Mile to repeat winner Goldencents.

Untapable and Tapiture haven't been quite as brilliant in 2015, with just one win apiece as they target repeat engagements at the Breeders’ Cup. But David Fiske, racing manager for Winchell Thoroughbreds, had cause for optimism after both turned in their penultimate works on a chilly Sunday morning at host track Keeneland.

Untapable, working in company with graded-placed stablemate Gold Hawk, turned in a five-furlong breeze in 1:01.46 on the watch of Daily Racing Form clocker Mike Welsch.

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While Untapable has not won since taking the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap on April 10, she has not missed the board this season while competing exclusively in graded stakes company. She most recently finished second, beaten a neck by Got Lucky, in the Grade 1 Spinster Stakes on Oct. 4, her first start at Keeneland.

"I told Ron, ‘We got beat six-hundredths of a second in the Spinster,’ " Fiske said.

Earlier on Sunday morning, Tapiture breezed a solo five furlongs in 1:00.79. The colt's one win this season came at an opportune time as he arrives for this year's BC Dirt Mile off a win in the Grade 3 Ack Ack Handicap on Sept. 26 at Churchill Downs. Fiske calls his impressions of the colt leading up to the BC Dirt Mile "very similar" to how he trained a year ago before tangling with Goldencents.

Untapable and Tapiture, trained by Steve Asmussen, are both by North America's reigning leading sire Tapit, whom Winchell campaigned. He stands at Gainesway Farm in Lexington.