We tend to glorify route horses over sprinters, but of three 2-year-old stakes Sunday at Kentucky Downs, the Untapable, the lone sprint, is the best of them. Fifteen were entered and a dozen can run in the Untapable, contested over 6 1/2 furlongs and filled with fillies of promise. Pace players pack the race, but Ultima Grace, drawn in post 2 with John Velazquez riding for Wesley Ward, might prove the quickest of them. “I’d say between me and Johnny V, she’s going to be forwardly placed,” said Ward, whose 2-year-olds often gain an advantage with sharp breaks. :: Kentucky Downs Package Available Now - Get All Access PPs, Picks, Players Guide for just $20! Ultima Grace went backward in her most recent start, leading early in the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot but backing up to finish 20th. None of Ward’s horses ran well in England this summer, but Ultima Grace and another filly who made the trip, Saturday Flirt, came out of their races with upper respiratory infections that forced them to remain overseas a week longer than planned. Ultima Grace won her debut in April on the Keeneland dirt track but is by grass influence American Pharoah and out of Ultima D, who won the 2017 Untapable for Ward. “You’d think she’s a turf horse. She does work like a good horse on the dirt at Keeneland,” said Ward. Ultima Grace provides just one landing spot in a race so wide open that the morning-line favorite, She’s All Charm, is listed at odds of 9-2. That price may or may not be accurate, but it’s difficult to see a favorite here lower than 4-1, unless Ultima Grace gets heavily bet off a series of eye-catching Keeneland breezes. She’s All Charm won her debut and lone start in an Ellis Park turf maiden, as did Civetta and Kilwin. Civetta, an Into Mischief filly trained by Brendan Walsh, is a Godolphin homebred out of the Medaglia d’Oro mare Sentiero Italia. Civetta has a sibling who is running in two-mile jump races, and Walsh trained her brother Santin, a multiple Grade 1 turf winner over 1 1/8 miles. “She’s a much sharper type horse than Santin,” said Walsh, who sings Civetta’s praises. Civetta showed good speed in her 5 1/2-furlong grass win and battled gamely to win by a neck, the third-place finisher 1 1/4 lengths farther back. Kilwin might have turned in the best race among the Ellis maiden winners. Trained by Rusty Arnold, the Twirling Candy filly tracked the leaders from third in her lone start, came out for her stretch run, and whizzed through her final half-furlong in less than six seconds, looking like a horse who will appreciated another furlong Sunday. Shezafunkydrummer won the Prairie Gold Lassie last out despite being impeded at the start after breaking from post 1, getting stuck along the fence for much of the trip, and having to slice between horses making her winning move. She still got home easily, and trainer Larry Rivelli loved her recent grass work at Hawthorne. “She worked like a monster, ran right over her company,” Rivelli said. Viggiedal was rained out of a grass start in the Bolton Landing at Saratoga and also makes her grass debut. “I loved how she worked on turf,” trainer Steve Asmussen said. Viggiedal is 10-1 on the morning line. Whoever you like the Untapable, you should get a price. Juvenile Mile In 2023, trainer Steve Asmussen won the Juvenile Mile at Kentucky Downs with Aspenite who, nine days earlier, had finished second over the course in a rich race restricted to Keeneland sales graduates. Tiztastic went one better, winning the 6 1/2-furlong Keeneland sales race on Aug. 28 after finishing fifth in a Saratoga dirt maiden race. Now he wheels back into the Juvenile Mile on Sunday, a key player in his second start of the brief meeting. Regardless of the restricted nature of his local win, Tiztastic looked totally comfortable over the Kentucky Downs grass, stalking from fifth, and winning clear with something left in the tank. The Tiz the Law colt also looked physically advanced for a September 2-year-old. “He’s a beautiful animal. We expected him to improve on turf,” Asmussen said. “It’s easy to compare him to Aspenite.” This race drew an overflow field of 15, a dozen in the main body, the three also-eligibles including Lush Lips, a Donnacha O’Brien-trained shipper from Ireland. The race has a base purse of $500,000, another $500,000 for Kentucky-breds. Forged Steel, trained by Saffie Joseph Jr., who won two races on the Thursday card, is listed as the 3-1 favorite, a price that might be too low. His second start maiden win, his turf debut, was visually impressive but came against suspect Gulfstream Park competition. Forged Steel has speed, though he was willing to rate off another horse in his win and attracted the services of Tyler Gaffalione. Joseph has a second entrant, Reach for the Rose, who finished a decent but even-paced third Sept. 1 in the Juvenile Sprint over this course. Gaffalione rode Juvenile Mile entrant West Beach when he finished a close fourth July 27 in a Saratoga maiden route. West Beach is a two-start maiden, his Saratoga run coming after a debut second in an Aqueduct turf sprint won impressively by Pharoah’s Dynasty. The Saratoga maiden was slow-paced, and West Beach finished as fast as anyone. In more jockey switch-ups, Jose Ortiz rode Tiztastic in his Kentucky Downs win but winds up here on the Ignacio Correas-trained Ready for Peace, a long-striding colt who won his Colonial Downs debut, a turf route, under Horacio Karamanos. Irad Ortiz Jr. takes the mount Sunday on Tiztastic. He may be sitting on a winner. Juvenile Fillies A 2-year-old filly with no great credentials is going to earn her connections a pile of money in the $1 million Juvenile Fillies. The race’s overflow field looks evenly matched, with the field’s highest Beyer Speed Figure a mere 68. That was earned by the Tapit filly May Day Ready, who was 25-1 in a Saratoga maiden turf route on Aug. 4, which she won by a head, one of three victories on the year for trainer Joseph Lee. May Day Ready is one of two Saratoga maiden turf route winners entered, the other being She’s Got Will, who got a perfect trip on the way to a one-length victory there Aug. 14. Mark Casse trains the filly and jockey Dylan Davis on Sunday makes his first Kentucky Downs appearance of the meeting. Tigerish was purchased at auction for $200,000 this summer after a June debut turf-route win at Horseshoe Indianapolis. She’s been training with verve at Del Mar for Richard Baltas, whose two runners at the meet have won and finished third. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.