Winchell runners prepare for major stakes

The 43-year-old breeder and owner Ron Winchell loves the action of having horses running, and his stable will see some significant play over the next few weeks. Winchell’s champion Untapable is set to make her 5-year-old debut Saturday at Oaklawn in the Grade 2, $350,000 Azeri, while his promising Madtap makes his stakes debut on the same card in the Grade 2, $900,000 Rebel.

Looking ahead, Winchell has Gun Runner, whom he races in partnership with Three Chimneys, starting as a top contender in the Grade 2, $1 million Louisiana Derby on March 26 and recent Oaklawn allowance winner Adore set to run on the same card in the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks. Winchell races his horses in partnership with his mother, Joan, under the stable name Winchell Thoroughbreds.

“One thing I like about the business is it gives me something that’s entertaining all week,” Winchell said. “As I go about my work week, there’s always something running, always something to look forward to.”

Winchell was hooked on racing at a young age, with his family winning such races as the Arkansas Derby back in 1991 with Olympio. In time came Tapit, the 2004 Wood Memorial winner who would become one of the most prolific stallions in North America.

“Tapit was the last horse my dad and I went to the September sale and bought together,” Winchell said of his late father, Verne Winchell.

The family raced the horse and has retained a 50 percent interest in him as a stallion. Tapit’s influence is all over the entries Saturday at Oaklawn, led by Untapable, a $3.8 million earner, in the Azeri. Cupid, a $900,000 son of Tapit, will get good support in the Rebel, while Winchell is excited about his homebred in the race, Madtap.

“I refer to Tapit as the ultimate weapon,” Winchell said. “Basically, you get anything when you breed to him. They win short, long, on dirt, on the grass, on synthetic. It’s crazy.”

Winchell Thoroughbreds has about 25 horses in training, with an additional 12 juveniles soon to hit the track. The stable also has 25 broodmares at the family’s breeding operation in Kentucky and has interests in the stallions Tapizar, Tapiture, and Cowboy Cal, the latter the sire of one of the top 3-year-old fillies at Oaklawn in Marquee Miss.

Winchell, a gaming entrepreneur, is based in Las Vegas.

◗ The Arkansas division of the Racetrack Chaplaincy will have its annual dinner fundraiser on Friday.