Untapped eyes Silverbulletday

Untapped, the 2-year-old full sister to champion Untapable, won her second straight race last Friday at Fair Grounds to run her career record to two wins and a third from three starts.

The odds-on favorite in race 7 last Friday, Untapped pressed a faster-than-par early pace under Florent Geroux, took over at the three-furlong pole, changed leads at the top of the stretch, but swapped back to her wrong lead before the eighth pole, and came home in a modest time through the homestretch to complete one mile, 70 yards in 1:44.40. The raw time produced a Beyer Speed Figure of 76, a career-best for Untapped.

“We were pleased with the result,” trainer Steve Asmussen said. “With her pedigree, you dream big, that’s for sure. She was a little aggressive between horses early, and there was quite a bit of pace early into the first turn. She was set down a long ways out, and I don’t think she needed a hard race right now. I think she’ll get better with time, and I feel good about the race.”

Asmussen said Untapped, if all goes well, will make her next start in the Silverbulletday Stakes on Jan. 21 at Fair Grounds. “This was a nice bridge to that race. I think she’s worthy of it,” he said.

Meanwhile, Gun Runner, who won the Grade 1 Clark Handicap in his most recent start, breezed five furlongs in 1:01.60 on Friday at Fair Grounds, his first drill since the Nov. 24 Clark. “He worked nicely,” Asmussen said.

Gun Runner’s connections, Winchell Thoroughbreds and Three Chimneys Farm, do not currently own a starting slot for the $12 million Pegasus World Cup on Jan. 28 at Gulfstream Park, and Asmussen reiterated Monday “that there are no concrete plans right now.” But he said he gave Gun Runner the work last week to keep him in a position to run in the Pegasus if an opportunity arises.

“Obviously, the Pegasus is an interesting race,” Asmussen said. “I didn’t want him to be eliminated from anything.”

-- Jockey Patrick Valenzuela is out of action indefinitely after having surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee suffered earlier this month at Fair Grounds, according to state steward Roy Wood, who has long known Valenzuela and is familiar with the rider’s situation.
Another Fair Grounds veteran jockey, DeShawn Parker, is out at least another month after fracturing his heel in an offtrack mishap. Agent Bobby Kelly said Parker fell from a ladder when helping his landlord remove holiday decorations from an attic.

And, finally, jockey Andre Worrie has left Fair Grounds for his home in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., according to agent Rob Whitlock.