Forever Unbridled on schedule

Forever Unbridled took another step toward her intended start in the $10 million Dubai World Cup on March 31 at Meydan Racecourse when she worked what trainer Dallas Stewart called a “strong” five furlongs Friday morning at Fair Grounds.

Working by herself, as usual, Forever Unbridled got an official clocking of 1:00.60. Stewart said the mare then galloped out six furlongs in 1:13.20 and seven furlongs in about 1:27.

“She’s just polishing it off now,” Stewart said mid-morning Friday. “It was a good, strong work. She didn’t struggle. She was smooth galloping out and looked great coming back. She’s back here at the barn now, cooled out like she didn’t even work.”

It was the sixth workout, all spaced six or seven days apart, since Forever Unbridled began breezing seriously with the World Cup as a next-start goal. Forever Unbridled has logged 32 furlongs worth of workouts during the span, and several of those drills included a serious gallop-out. Forever Unbridled last raced Nov. 3, when she won the Breeders’ Cup Distaff by a half-length over Abel Tasman. Under consideration for the Pegasus World Cup on Jan. 27, Forever Unbridled breezed Dec. 13, but when her stablemate Seeking the Soul was selected by owner Charles Fipke and Stewart as a Pegasus runner in Forever Unbridled’s stead, Stewart took the mare off a workout schedule while continuing daily gallops.

There’s no question Stewart knows how to have Forever Unbridled ready to race off workouts alone. She beat Songbird last summer in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign following a break of more than two months, and her BC Distaff win came in her first start since the Aug. 26 Personal Ensign.

Forever Unbridled will be bidding to become the first female winner of the World Cup when she faces West Coast, Pavel, Talismanic, and others in a race over 2,000 meters, or about 1 1/4 miles, a furlong farther than she’s ever raced. Forever Unbridled works once more next week at Fair Grounds before shipping to Florida on March 19 and on to Dubai the next day, arriving in Dubai on March 21. Jockey John Velazquez, aboard for the BC Distaff, is riding March 31 at Gulfstream Park, and Stewart said a World Cup jockey assignment for Forever Unbridled would likely be revealed this weekend.

“It’s a long way over there and we know it’s a difficult race, but she’s doing great now, and that’s exciting in itself,” Stewart said.

Cooptado ready to rebound

Cooptado was born in Argentina, has raced extensively in Dubai and Singapore, and has an English trainer and jockey in his corner. He’s an 8-year-old gelding with a rich history – and a chance to win the featured seventh race Sunday at Fair Grounds.

Cooptado is one of nine entrants in a one mile and 70-yard dirt race with multiple high-end allowance conditions and an $80,000 claiming option. Cooptado won the Tenacious Stakes by a nose in December at Fair Grounds, and Sunday’s race looks at least as challenging as the Tenacious.

Cooptado returned from the Tenacious to finish sixth in the Louisiana Stakes, after which England-born trainer Tom Morley gave him a freshening, and Cooptado, who will have jockey Adam Beschizza in the saddle for the first time, could easily bounce back. A Group 1 winner in Argentina in 2013, Cooptado spent the winter of 2014-15 in Dubai, where he won a minor stakes race, before moving on to Singapore, where he raced in 2015, 2016, and part of 2017 before being shipped to America. Cooptado has spent the bulk of his career racing on turf, but has five wins and a second from eight dirt starts.

The horse he nipped in the Tenacious, Shut the Box, is among his rivals Sunday, but the pick to win is Rich Daddy, who figures to take a step forward after returning from a layoff last month in the Grade 3 Mineshaft Handicap, a race dominated by The Player.