Untapable drawing comparisons to Rachel Alexandra ahead of Oaks run

Untapable took a spin around Churchill under the lights Thursday morning (Lauren Pomeroy/Horsephotos.com)

Morning-line favorite Untapable
was out
early with trainer Steve
Asmussen’s second set on Thursday at Churchill Downs ahead of Friday’s Grade 1,
$1 million Kentucky Oaks.

Sending them to the
track after 6 a.m. (EDT) allows the trainer to get a read on the surface when
he first tests the dirt aboard his pony at 5:45 a.m., a long-established
routine for the barn’s Oaks and Derby horses.

The Fair Grounds Oaks and Rachel Alexandra winner had an easy gallop with regular exercise rider Angel
Garcia
aboard. As has been the case all week, Untapable was full of
energy and wanting to be let loose.

“She went to the track really well today,” Asmussen said. “I
think she’s in good condition. The cool weather this morning had
everyone feeling nice and it was a perfect morning to train.”

Being a brilliant three-year-old filly in the Asmussen barn,
comparisons between Untapable and Rachel
Alexandra
are
inevitable. Asmussen assumed training of Rachel Alexandra after her
win in the 2009 Kentucky Oaks, managing her through four straight
Grade 1 scores that summer en route to Horse of the Year honors.

Rosalind stayed calm for her Thursday visit to Churchill’s starting gate (Bob Newell/Horsephotos.com)

Rosalind
had an
uneventful visit to the Churchill starting gate this morning, one day after she
balked at the suggestion.

“It was a pretty basic day,” trainer Kenny
McPeek
said.
“We walked her through the paddock and then she had a nice gallop
and then she went to the gate and she stood and backed out. We had
a pony meet her and take her over to the gate. Once we had the pony
meet her she was fine.”

Regular exercise rider Danny
Ramsey
was aboard for this
morning’s final preparations in advance of Friday’s Kentucky Oaks.

McPeek is relieved the race is imminent. His dead-heat
Ashland winner has impressed over the Churchill
surface this week and appears ready to fire in a race that could set up
for a closer.

Sugar Shock gleamed in the early morning sun on Thursday (Bob Newell/Horsephotos.com)

Fantasy heroine Sugar
Shock also
visited the
starting gate Thursday and galloped an easy mile under exercise rider Seth
VanDyke
for trainer Doug
Anderson. Sugar Shock will break
from post position 3 under Calvin
Borel.

“I would like to see her break good and get good position
without using herself up early,” Anderson said. “If they leave her by
herself on the lead, that would not bother me at all.”

As Anderson was laying out his perfect scenario, Borel and
his agent Jerry
Hissam
drove up to Barn 27 and the
rider on 2009 Oaks queen Rachel
Alexandra offered his take.

Trainer Mike Maker is expecting a big run from Thank You Marylou in the Oaks (Lauren Pomeroy/Horsephotos.com)

Thank
You
Marylou
is giving trainer Mike
Maker
positive vibes as she
heads toward the Oaks.

“She’s going to fire a big one,” Maker asserted Thursday.
“There’s no doubt in my mind. She’s really doing well. Looking
forward to it.”

The filly, the third-place finisher in the Ashland,
galloped Thursday under exercise rider Joel
Barrientos.

Trainer Wayne
Catalano
said Thursday
morning that he wasn’t quite done making a game plan for the
Kentucky Oaks run by Aurelia’s
Belle.

“I’m not as good as Gary
Stevens,” Catalano said with a
laugh, “As soon as they had a draw, he had a game plan.”

In a TV interview during the Kentucky Derby post draw, Hall of Famer
Stevens said that he began formulating a game
plan for the race as soon as the post position for his mount (Candy
Boy) was drawn.

Trainer Wayne Catalano plans to have a couple of game plans ready for Aurelia’s Belle in the Oaks (Lauren Pomeroy/Horsephotos.com)

“She doesn’t have a whole bunch of experience with getting
a whole lot of dirt. You’re going a mile and an eighth. You’ve got a lot
of things to think about. So we’ll map out a plan like that. We’ll
probably be laying about where we want to be. I didn’t look at the
race that good yet.

“What you do is mostly you talk to your rider and see how
the race unfolds. You can talk about it all you want on paper, but
when they break and go, you kind of like have Plan A and Plan B and
see how it unfolds and adjust to that. And those are the reasons you
ride the riders that can make the adjustments. You just kind of leave it
to them.”

Channing
Hill
has the mount.

Exercise rider Calamity
Compton
galloped Aurelia’s Belle
on Thursday morning, and Catalano said he planned to school her in
the paddock in the afternoon. She had schooled Wednesday, too.