Untapable, Tapiture Settle in at Fair Grounds

Likely 3-year-old filly champion Untapable and multiple graded stakes-winning stablemate Tapiture are busily preparing for their 4-year-old campaigns after arriving Dec. 13 at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.      



Both hit the track for the first time the following morning. Untapable and Tapiture, owned and bred by Winchell Thoroughbreds, are offspring of Winchell's homebred star stallion Tapit  . They are trained by defending meet title holder Steve Asmussen.



"They wintered great," said Winchell Thoroughbreds racing manager David Fiske. "They both got to the farm after the Breeders' Cup and took about 30 days off. Neither were a problem and they looked like they were happy to be doing something different. Everyone at the farm really enjoyed having them, too; they're both characters. I don't think they really lost all that much weight, either. Tapiture probably came in at about 1,200 pounds and Untapable about 1,150."



Untapable put the exclamation point on her phenomenal season with a 1 1/4-length victory over older fillies and mares in the Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (gr. I). The bay filly won six of her seven 2014 races, including four in grade I company.



Her other two wins were Fair Grounds' two premier races for sophomore fillies, the Fair Grounds Oaks (gr. II) and Rachel Alexandra Stakes (gr. III).



Tapiture's 2014 season was no slouch in its own right. In the exacta in six of his eight starts, he won three graded stakes, including the West Virginia Derby (gr. II), and was a valiant second to Goldencents   in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (gr. I). 



"We'll see how quickly they get ready," Fiske said.  "We'll let them tell us, obviously, but it's really not hard for either one to get fit. We'll start at the Breeders' Cup and work backwards in five-week intervals and hopefully have them ready to go at the end of March or beginning of April. 



"I could envision (Untapable) doing the same sort of campaign. She does better when you space her races out and will probably run no more than seven times. It would be nice to run her at Saratoga. She was supposed to run in the Adirondack (gr. II) as a 2-year-old there, but colicked the day before. We'll focus on grade Is with her."



Tapiture's prospectus is a little more malleable than his female counterpart. 



"His year-end goal depends on how he runs throughout the year," Fiske said. "The Dirt Mile this year was around two turns (at Santa Anita Park) and that's preferable for him, as opposed to one turn. In 2015, if he shows that he's adept at mile and a eighth to a mile and a quarter, we'll stretch him out somewhere to see if the Classic is an option.

"The New Orleans Handicap (gr. II) is possible (as a starting point), but we'll really have to see how he's coming along at that point."