Forever Unbridled: Oaks Is in Her Genes

It was nine years ago that trainer Dallas Stewart and owners Willis Horton, Stewart, and partners turned the Kentucky Oaks (gr. I) on its ear with a healthy 47-1 upset with Lemons Forever. Last year Stewart was back at Churchill Downs with Unbridled Forever, a daughter of Lemons Forever, and ran third in the Oaks at 13-1.

This year Stewart has another Oaks starter in Forever Unbridled, a full sister to Unbridled Forever, and has an outside shot for the $1 million race May 1 in Louisville.

The Oaks are in her genes.

Lemons Forever, by Lemon Drop Kid  —Criticola, by Tough Critic, was "strong with a good neck and good hip ... she was just a superstar," according to Stewart.

While she failed to win another graded race in her career, she did run third in the Alabama Stakes (gr. I) at Saratoga Race Course. So impressive a prospect, Charles Fipke paid $2.5 million for her at the 2007 Keeneland November sale.

For Fipke, she produced a pair of foals by his stallion Perfect Soul   before being mated twice to the late Unbridled's Song. The two Oaks runners were raised at his 360-acre farm near Paris, Ky.

"He put the matings together; he's strongly into that," Stewart said. "He breeds for distance. He's a very smart man and has an unbelievable passion for the game."

Forever Unbridled will have a tough row to hoe in this year's Oaks that will have a full field of 14. The bay filly is 1-2-2 from five starts. This winter at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots she tried all three of the stakes races for 3-year-old fillies that were swept by Fletcher and Carolyn Gray's I'm a Chatterbox.

Forever Unbridled was second, beaten eight lengths in the one-mile, 70-yard Silverbulletday Stakes Jan. 17; was third, beaten 2 3/4 lengths in the 1 1/16-mile Rachel Alexandra Stakes (gr. III) Feb. 21; and was third, beaten 3 1/2 lengths March 28 in the Fair Grounds Oaks (gr. II) at the same trip. The Kentucky Oaks adds another sixteenth of a mile to nine furlongs.

"She was kind of a slow developer," Stewart said of Forever Unbridled. "But she's getting stronger. She's a little taller than her mom, and like her she's getting better with age.

"She got beat a couple lengths by I'm a Chatterbox, but that was a different racetrack, different air, different distance," he said. "She's trained consistently; worked in a minute the other day (1:01 April 24) and galloped out strong. She's just progressing. I'm sure the other horses are getting better in the meantime also; I just want to keep her healthy."

As an outsider in this year's Oaks, her odds won't be as healthy as Lemons Forever in 2006, but healthy enough for her backers.