While the boys are busy battling it out through a series of stakes races to qualify for starting positions in the Kentucky Derby, female thoroughbreds are also facing off with some of them hoping for a start in the Kentucky Oaks. Among those is Untapable, who took a big step forward in her development as a three-year-old when she left the field behind to take the win in the $300,000 Grade III Rachel Alexandra Stakes at Fair Grounds on Saturday.
A daughter of the multiple graded-stakes winning Tapit, Untapable made an instant impression at the track last summer, breaking her maiden first time out, and then moving right up to win the Grade II Pocahontas Stakes at Churchill in September. That effort earned her a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, but she showed little on that day and was eventually eased and finished eighth. She followed that with an eventful run in the Grade I Hollywood Starlet, where she was third, after having to come five wide in the stretch.
In the Rachel Alexandra, Untapable raced mid-pack throughout, behind a duel between the 3-2 favorite and Starlet winner, Streaming, and 88-1 shot Army. As they turned for home, jockey Rosie Napravnik found a hole in a wall of horses and Untapable shot through, quickly opening up daylight on the pack, getting the win by more than nine lengths as the 4-1 third choice in the betting. The 3-1 Got Lucky was second, with 12-1 long shot Shanon Nicole getting the show money. Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillly winner Ria Antonia was fourth.
The field is set for the $1 million Haskell, where Nyquist will be trying to re-stake his claim as the top three-year-old in the country.
On Sunday at Monmouth Park, the featured race is the $300,000 United Nations Stakes. Scheduled to be run at a mile and three-eighths on the turf, the Grade 1 event has drawn a field of ten colts and geldings.
On Sunday at Monmouth Park, the featured race is the $150,000 Pegasus Stakes, a key prep race for the Haskell Invitational (G1). The Grade 3 event will be contested at a mile and a sixteenth and has drawn a field of seven three-year-olds.
With five grade 1 races and a grade 2, the undercard for the June 11 Belmont stakes could be the best single day of racing on the calendar outside of the Breeders’ Cup.
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