Unbridled Forever Proves Sprinting is Her Game

Unbridled Forever (Unbridled’s Song) flashed plenty of ability as a 3-year-old, placing in a trio of Grade I events–including the Kentucky Oaks and Coaching Club American Oaks–but has really found her calling in the female sprint division in 2015. An eye-catching come-from-behind winner over Stonetastic (Mizzen Mast) while making her seasonal debut in Saratoga’s Aug. 5 Shine Again S. over track and trip, the bay turned in her second straight visually impressive score while earning a free trip to the GI Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint in Saturday’s GI Ballerina S. at the Spa.

Always traveling well as she trailed the field of seven through an easy opening quarter in :23.10, Unbridled Forever stayed within striking distance while saving ground throughout. Awaiting racing room on the far turn, Johnny Velazquez tipped her our three wide at the top of the stretch and she came flying home to win going away.

“We got a perfect trip,” Velazquez said. “We broke the way we thought and we were behind the pack, worked our way through on the inside until we got to the quarter pole and then I pulled her out and she responded. That’s what she did the last time, and she did it back again today.”

Unbridled Forever, heroine of last year’s Silverbulletday S. at Fair Grounds, closed out her sophomore campaign with a second-place finish in the GII Indiana Oaks Oct. 4 and a fifth-place finish in the GI Breeders’ Cup Distaff Oct. 31.

Trainer Dallas Stewart added, “Johnny [Velazquez] had her in a good spot and he felt good about it. He said the filly acted a little more on her game in the post parade and in the paddock so I felt she would run hard. She’s a fighter. I knew she would finish it off.”

As for what’s next, Stewart added, “We’ll have to talk about it. It’s a ‘Win and You’re In’ and now we’re in. Hard to change her now. I don’t know about stretching her out and then dropping her back, so we’ll see.”

Unbridled Forever is a daughter of 2006 GI Kentucky Oaks heroine and 2007 $2.5-million KEENOV graduate Lemons Forever. The 12-year-old has a 2-year-old colt by Medaglia d’Oro named Forever d’Oro. She produced a colt by Medaglia d’Oro this spring and was bred back to the Darley stallion. Unbridled Forever, of course, was co-owned by Horton Stable and trainer Dallas Stewart during her racing days.

“This is special,” Stewart concluded. “Chuck Fipke bred [Unbridled Forever]. I sold him Lemons Forever and he bred this filly. She’s a great horse. It’s a Grade I and he owns the mare and a lot of the family so it’s big for him. Maybe I should have kept her; maybe I shouldn’t have sold her and kept her [myself] as a broodmare! I’m glad for Chuck. He’s done a great job breeding her and she’s got more in the pipeline.”

Saturday, Saratoga
BALLERINA S.-GI, $500,000, SAR, 8-29, 3yo/up, f/m, 7f, 1:22.54, ft.
1–@&UNBRIDLED FOREVER, 117, f, 4, by Unbridled’s Song
1st Dam: Lemons Forever (GISW, $648,940), by Lemon Drop Kid
2nd Dam: Critikola (Arg), by Tough Critic
3rd Dam: Hola Keats (Arg), by Keats
O/B-Charles Fipke (KY); T-Dallas Stewart; J-John R.
Velazquez. $275,000. Lifetime Record: 12-4-2-3,
$805,257. *Full to Forever Unbridled, MGSP,
$124,100. Werk Nick Rating: C. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. [bullet ad=”cecil-seaman-biomechanical-mating-recommendation”][bullet ad=”mckathan-brothers-training-grad”][bullet ad=”winstar-train”]
2–Kiss to Remember, 117, f, 4, Big Brown–Taft Lil
Queen, by Irish Open. ($15,000 Ylg ’12 KEESEP).
O-Miller Racing LLC; B-Big Brown Syndicate & Mr. &
Mrs. Charles McGinnes (MD); T-Martin D. Wolfson.
$100,000. [bullet ad=”maryland-shell”]
3–Room for Me, 117, m, 5, Harlington–Graziella, by
Honour and Glory. ($1,200 Wlg ’10 KEENOV).
O/T-David Jacobson; B-Stonebriar Stables (KY);
$60,000. [bullet ad=”hillndale-consigned”][bullet ad=”blackwood-graduate”] Margins: 1, 1 1/4, 2 3/4. Odds: 3.10, 11.20, 6.20.
Also Ran: Sarah Sis, Street Story, Dame Dorothy, Merry Meadow. Scratched: La Verdad.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.