Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Forever Unbridled breezes ahead of Dubai World Cup
NEW ORLEANS – The champion older dirt female of 2017, Forever Unbridled, turned in a major workout Friday at Fair Grounds as she prepares for the Dubai World Cup on March 31.
Working solo through dense fog just after 6 a.m., Forever Unbridled was timed in 1:12.40 for six furlongs by trainer Dallas Stewart. He had the 6-year-old mare going out seven furlongs in 1:25 and a mile in 1:40.20.
“She worked real good,” said Stewart. “Went her last half in 47 and 2.”
Forever Unbridled made three starts in 2017 and won all of them, beating the champion Songbird in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign at Saratoga and Abel Tasman in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Charles Fipke bred and owns Forever Unbridled, a daughter of Unbridled’s Song and Lemons Forever, who won the Kentucky Oaks for Stewart.
Forever Unbridled briefly was considered for the Pegasus World Cup on Jan. 27 and worked here Dec. 12. And though Stewart backed off working the mare after she was withdrawn from Pegasus consideration, Forever Unbridled continued galloping right along. Now that the Dubai World Cup has emerged as a target, Forever Unbridled has gotten on a regular work schedule, and this was her third breeze in February.
“We’re on target for Dubai,” Stewart said. “I’ve never run a horse there, but I’ve been asking a lot of questions, talking to different trainers that’ve been there about the layout and everything.”
Shipping plans call for Forever Unbridled to fly to Florida on March 19 and on to Dubai the following day, Stewart said.
Forever Unbridled will be the ninth female to start in the World Cup and will be only the second American-based filly or mare to travel for the race. Royal Delta finished 10th in 2012 and ninth in 2013 while racing over a synthetic surface she couldn’t handle. The Japanese mare To the Victory finished second to Captain Steve in the 2001 World Cup at Nad al Sheba, the only filly or mare to finish better than eighth in the race.
Cox has four for Juddmonte
Trainer Brad Cox’s everadvancing racing stable has attracted a new client of international renown – Prince Khalid Abdullah’s Juddmonte Farms.
Cox, who entering Friday’s races was the leading trainer at Fair Grounds with 33 wins and at Oaklawn with 12, has been training a handful of Juddmonte horses since last fall. The first to arrive and the first to race was the 4-year-old Speed Gun, who made an eye-catching debut Tuesday at Fair Grounds, leading all the way in a twoturn turf maiden race that he won by 5 1/4 lengths under Florent Geroux.
Speed Gun, by First Defence and out of the Group 1 winner Announce, earned a strong 89 Beyer Speed Figure.
“He’s a big, long horse we thought wanted to run long,” Cox said. “The biggest drawback we’ve had with him training is the way he acts in the gate. He didn’t break all that well in his race, either.”
No matter – Speed Gun was much the best. Cox said Juddmonte contacted him in October about taking some horses, and after a conversation with Garrett O’Rourke, manager of Juddmonte’s Kentucky division, he was brought into the fold.
“We’ve got four in total now,” said Cox.
Cox won with two first-time starters in turf routes Tuesday, and his record with grass starters at this meet is a heady 63-278-12.
Tiger Moth to Azeri Stakes
Tiger Moth, who won the Houston Ladies Classic on Jan. 28 with a career-best performance, will make her next start March 17 in the Azeri Stakes at Oaklawn with an eye toward the Grade 1 Apple Blossom there, trainer Brad Cox said.
Retirement had been considered for the 6-year-old Tiger Moth.
“She’s not been bred, and we’re pointing toward the Azeri,” he said.
Tom’s d’Etat back to work
Tom’s d’Etat, who sustained a chipped ankle the week before he was to start in the Grade 1 Woodward Stakes last August at Saratoga, posted his first published work of the year Friday at Fair Grounds, going three furlongs in 38 seconds.
“He had a couple down-thelane pipe openers before this,” said Al Stall, who trains Tom’s d’Etat for Gayle Benson’s GMB Racing. “I’m in no rush with him. We’re looking at a spring start in Kentucky. He looks good. He’s fully mature now. He’s just turned into a man.”
Tom’s d’Etat has gone through multiple layoffs and never has raced in a stakes, but he got a 106 Beyer Speed Figure for an impressive July 27 Saratoga allowance win, which had earned him a spot in the Woodard before his setback.
◗ Three open first-level allowance races highlight the Fair Grounds program Sunday. Race 2 is a turf sprint for 3-year-olds that figures to have Drena’s Star as a favorite even if the race is rained onto dirt. Race 7 is carded at one mile and 70 yards on dirt for 3-year-old fillies and has Go Google Yourself and Saguaro Row (who has been scratched several times already this meet) as the prime players. Race 8 is a turf mile for older horses that drew a wildly competitive, full field.