They are the darlings of American racing and former Hall of Fame rider Jerry Bailey said that Untapable and jockey Rosie Napravnik can get one over on the boys when the female duo line up in the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on Sunday night.
Taghrooda is not the only filly taking on the colts this weekend at the highest level and, like Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid’s filly, who races in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot today, Untapable is unbeaten this season.
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Untapable bids to become only the third filly to win the Haskell, a 1,800-metre Grade 1 because she has dominated her gender since her first victory, at Fair Grounds in February.
The opposition had no answer to her raw ability when she ran out a winner by nine-and-a-half lengths five months ago. In her four starts this campaign she has an aggregate winning margin of 31 lengths.
The daughter of Tapit, the 2004 Wood Memorial winner, has shown she is tactically versatile and her dominance requires a greater challenge.
Bailey won the Haskell twice in a career that spanned 5,893 winners and more than US$296 million (Dh1.09 billion) in earnings, a sum which was contributed to largely by his four Dubai World Cup wins.
He knows what it is like to guide a filly to victory over the colts at an elite level, too, having won the 2003 Breeders’ Cup Mile on the French raider Six Perfections. He said Untapable quite rightly should be shooting for victory over the colts.
“There’s obviously some instances when they’re not mature enough, but when you get a special horse, whether it be male or female, they’re just good,” said Bailey, who is now an analyst on NBC. “She happens to be special. She happens to be very good. Her running style is very adaptable.
“Obviously, in Europe they run fillies against the colts a lot more than we do. I think it’s exciting. I think they belong in races a lot more often than they’re actually entered into them.”
Much like Taghrooda, Untapable appears to have a strong chance of victory.
Untapable is drawn in the seventh stall, which means Napravnik has the call on how she will ride her mount, who can be held up, as when ridden by John Velazquez a month ago in the Belmont Oaks, or up with the pace as in the Kentucky Oaks in May.
Monmouth Park often favours speed horses, but with several horses displaying a liking for being up with the pace, including Wildcat Red, the Woody Stephens Stakes winner Bayern, course victor Albano and Preakness Stakes third Social Inclusion, Napravnik might want to take a tug as soon as the gates fly.
“Even if the race wasn’t set up for her, which it is, I would still like her chances,” Bailey added.
“I mean, in my mind, going through the spring she might’ve been the best three year old in the country. Not to diminish what California Chrome has done, but she was arguably in that conversation.”
Bailey raises a key point. America’s Horse Of The Year race has started to heat up with Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner California Chrome and Breeders’ Cup pretender Palace Malice leading the way.
Steve Asmussen, Untapable’s trainer, was also responsible for Rachel Alexandra, who won the Haskell en route to charming the US in 2009, when she was voted Horse Of The Year.
Weight should not be an issue for fillies
Taghrooda and Untapable taking on the colts and geldings in open competition at Ascot and Monmouth Park this weekend is nothing new in international racing.
When Gentildonna won the Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan in March she became the latest in a long line of brilliant mares that had beaten the boys on World Cup night.
The Japanese mare had too much for Cirrus Des Aigles and joined Dar Re Mi and Sun Classique as female winners of the 2,400-metre Group 1 race.
Godolphin struck with Sajjhaa in the Dubai Duty Free Stakes in 2013, adding to wins by Mike de Kock’s Ipi Tombe in 2003 and Terre A Terre in 2002.
As a three-year-old filly, Taghrooda will receive 15 pounds from the older colts on Saturday night, according to the Weight For Age scale.
Because the Haskell Invitational on Sunday is for three year olds only, Untapable will get only three pounds from the males.
In an exhaustive study by Timeform, the English ratings service, last season fillies were found to be between, seven and eight pounds inferior to males, taking into account every race in Britain.
It showed, however, that in the months of July and August, the differences between the sexes disappear. Step forward the two leading ladies.
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