Untapable Set for Azeri Return

Winchell Thoroughbreds' champion Untapable is set for her return to the races for the second year in a row in the $350,000 Azeri Stakes (gr. II) March 19 at Oaklawn Park.

Last season the 5-year-old daughter of Tapit   came back from her Eclipse Award-winning sophomore season, which concluded with a victory in the 2014 Breeders' Cup Distaff (gr. I), to run second in the 1 1/16-mile Azeri, en route to a victory in the Apple Blossom (gr. I) at Oaklawn in May.

This year Untapable will run for the first time since missing her chance at a second Distaff title at the end of October, when she spiked a fever before the race. She returned to the worktab Jan. 28 to begin gearing up for her season debut.

NOVAK: Champion Untapable Returns to Worktab

Since then, the Steve Asmussen trainee has put in a solid work pattern, including six furlongs in 1:13 March 7 and four furlongs in :49 2/5 March 14 at Oaklawn. Florent Geroux has the mount from post 7 in a field of eight.

The 1-2 finishers from the Feb. 14 Bayakoa Stakes (gr. III), Call Pat and Streamline, take the next step on Oaklawn's road to the Apple Blossom. 

BALAN: Call Pat Goes Last to First in Bayakoa

Theogony ships back in for trainer Mark Casse after running fourth in the Jan. 30 Houston Ladies Classic (gr. III) off a second in the Jan. 17 Pippin Stakes, while California invader Kyriaki looks to improve from a fourth in the Feb. 13 Santa Maria Stakes (gr. II).     

Grade II winners Sarah Sis and High Dollar Woman, along with stakes winner Meshell, complete the field.