Graded Stakes Winner Untrapped Euthanized

Graded stakes winner Untrapped, a 2017 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) starter, was euthanized June 25 because of the onset of laminitis, owner Michael Langford confirmed.

The winner of last year's Oklahoma Derby (G3), Untrapped most recently finished in a dead-heat for second with One Liner behind  Irish War Cry in the May 18 Pimlico Special Stakes (G3). Langford said the 4-year-old son of Trappe Shot  was sent to Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital after suffering a bout of colic about 10 days ago, and developed laminitis as a further complication.

"He was at Rood & Riddle for about five days, then he was released from the clinic and went to Becky Maker's farm (equine rehab facility in Versailles, Ky.) and they called me yesterday and said the vet would be calling me that Untrapped was (starting) to founder," Langford said June 26. "By the time the vet called me, he had gotten in pretty bad shape. They just said with what all had happened to him with the colic and stuff, he would not have a very good success rate of recovering. It would be a painful process. So I told the vet, let's do the right thing.

"It was just kind of a bad deal. I didn't want him to suffer, no one did. I think we absolutely did the right thing, but I hate it for him."

Trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, Untrapped was one of the more quietly consistent performers in last year's sophomore class. The dark bay colt broke his maiden second time out at Churchill Downs in November 2016, then posted runner-up efforts in both the Lecomte (G3) and Risen Star (G2) stakes in his first pair of outings during his 3-year-old season. After running third in the Rebel Stakes (G2) and sixth in the Arkansas Derby (G1), he became the first Kentucky Derby starter for Langford, and finished 12th in the classic.

Following two more on-the-board efforts in the Ohio Derby (G3) and Indiana Derby (G3) that summer, Untrapped broke through for his first graded triumph when he defeated a field that included grade 1 winner Girvin and eventual Las Vegas Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) victor Battle of Midway in the 1 1/8-mile Oklahoma Derby (G3).

"He was such a cool horse to be around," Langford said. "He tried every race. And to be around him at the barn, he'd stop whenever he saw me ... he knew I had peppermints. He was very smart. He was just 4 and we thought he would only get better as time went on."

Bred in Kentucky by Indian Creek and Jonathan Sheppard out of the Giant's Causeway mare Exit Three, Untrapped finished in the top three in 12 of his 16 starts, with $857,005 in earnings. He was purchased by Langford for $125,000 out of Crupi's New Castle Farm's draft to the Ocala Breeders' Sales April 2016 Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training.