Pedigree Profile: Untapable

So very infrequently does a filly come along that I really think should challenge the boys. These are the all time greats, the most talented, the biggest and most powerful runners that just so happen to be girls. Rachel Alexandra, Zenyatta, Mizdirection, Rags to Riches. They all were capable of putting together great runs against open competition. And Untapable looks to be as good as nearly any when looked at in relation to her male counterparts this year. I almost never think a filly should run in the triple crown unless that are truly dominant. But I do think Untapable should run in the Preakness.

Untapable, by Tapit out of Fun House (Prized)

Tapit. Any questions? Frank Mitchell in the Paulick Report says it better than I ever could:

One of the strengths of Tapit as a stallion is that he can get top-class offspring from various bloodlines, as seen from the weekend’s top winners. Flashback is out of a Mr. Greeley mare (Mr. Prospector line through Gone West). Tapicat is out of a Storm Cat mare (Northern Dancer line), and Honorable Dillon is out of an Argentine mare by the Blushing Groom-line stallion Shy Tom.

The stallion can produce premium offspring from differing lines because of his versatile physical qualities and traits. Buyers were responsive to the quality and promise of the Tapit offspring from the first ones through the sales ring, and the better yearlings by the stallion nowadays bring elite prices.

In fact, Sid Fernando and I talked about the same thing on Twitter in that Tapit is remarkable due to the fact he can get top class runners out of nothing mares. Best example being Hansen, who is from a family that struggled to get winners let alone stakes horses. Truly Remarkable.

Fun House was a heckuva race mare in her own right, winning the G2 Buena Vista and placing in a slew of other graded stakes. But her contribution as a broodmare far outweighs her performance on the track. Her second foal, a colt by El Prado (IRE) is a little stakes horse named Paddy O'Prado. A good 3rd in the Kentucky Derby, Paddy was a turf horse at heart, and did his best running there, winning a handful of graded stakes. He currently stands at Spendthrift Farm in Lexington for $15,000 and we will see his first yearlings in the sales ring this year.

But this is not a one broodmare family. In fact, I talked about this exact female family when examining Danza's pedigree a few weeks ago:

In fact, you can trace his female family back to the Reine-De-Course Brighton View. Through her Maryland-bred daughter Light Verse, she is the matriarch of a family that includes Grade 1 winners Olympio, Pyro, Paddy O'Prado, Tapizar, and On Fire Baby, She is also the 4th dam of sire Cuvee. While a distinctly different branch of the family than Danza's, for me it is always encouraging to see the depth of Stakes quality of a really good female family.

But here's the difference with Untapable: those names above, well, they're not distant relatives, they're all pretty close up in her pedigree. See the chart below from Sid Fernando:

Pyro (Pulpit) G1 winner

War Echo (Tapit) G3 winner

Farrier (Tapit) Black-type placed

Longview Drive (Pulpit) Black-type winner; G3 placed

Harpoon (Tapit) Highly regarded G3-placed colt on TC trail

Untapable (Tapit) G2 winner;

Tapatia (Tapit) Black-type placed

Tapizar (Tapit) G1 winner