The maroon and white silks of Winchell Thoroughbreds are a familiar sight on racing’s biggest days. Starting with Verne, founder of the family’s eponymous doughnut chain, and now through his wife, Joan, and son Ron, the Winchells have become a force in 21^st century American racing, counting names like Gun Runner, Tapit, Epicenter, and Gunite among the stars that have sported their colors.

Their homebred filly Untapable brought the Winchells more hardware at the Breeders’ Cup World Championship, parlaying her win in the 2014 Kentucky Oaks into a Breeders’ Cup Distaff victory and a career as rich as her pedigree.

After the first quarter-mile of the 2004 Wood Memorial Stakes, the gray or roan Pulpit colt was last of 11; at the half-mile mark, he was ninth. At the finish line, though, after a sustained drive through the stretch, Tapit swept by Master David and Eddington to earn his signature Grade 1 victory. When he went to stud later that year, with a record of three wins in six starts, few could have predicted Tapit would become a leading sire.

Untapable under jockey Rosie Napravnik. (Eclipse Sportswire)

In 2010, on the heels of Kentucky Derby third-place finisher Paddy O’Prado’s multiple graded stakes-winning season, the Winchells sent his dam, Fun House, to the court of Tapit at Gainesway. Eleven months later, on Feb. 13, 2011, she foaled a bay filly. They would name her Untapable and entrusted her to Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen.

From the beginning, Untapable was full of personality as David Fiske, the Winchells’ farm manager, told BloodHorse in 2013: “She was always a little bit temperamental; she never wanted to get caught in the stalls or outside. She wanted things her own way,” he said.

That feistiness showed early as she led from start to finish in her debut at Churchill Downs, winning by a length with Rosie Napravnik in the saddle.

A trip to Saratoga for the Adirondack Stakes resulted in the Tapit filly staying in her stall when a bout of colic derailed Asmussen’s plan. She returned to Louisville and tried the 1 1/16-mile Pocahontas Stakes as part of an eight-horse field. With Napravnik once again in the saddle, Untapable stalked the leaders, angled out entering the stretch, and closed quickly to win by a half-length. A troubled trip in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and then a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet saw the Tapit filly round out her 2013 with two wins and a third in four races at age 2, setting the stage for a stellar 3-year-old season.

Pointing toward the 2014 Kentucky Oaks, Asmussen put Untapable on the New Orleans road to Louisville, starting with the Grade 3 Rachel Alexandra Stakes, named for another champion filly from the Asmussen barn. Untapable dominated the field by 9 ½ lengths and followed with a 7 ¾-length triumph in the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks. She arrived at Churchill Downs ready to face a stacked field in the Kentucky Oaks.

Untapable went into the starting gate as the even-money favorite among the 13 entrants.  Ria Antonia, the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner; Silverbulletday Stakes victor Unbridled Forever; and My Miss Sophia, who won the Gazelle Stakes the previous month, were among the main challengers. When Empress of Midway flipped in the starting gate and had to be scratched from the race, the delay meant that the fillies had to be taken out and then reloaded into the gate. Unfazed by the whole thing, Untapable raced in fourth behind pacesetter Sugar Shock, moved up on the final turn, and then took the lead entering the stretch. She quickly put two lengths between her and the rest of the field, crossing the finish line 4 ½ lengths in front.

Untapable gave the Winchells their second Oaks win after Summerly in 2005 and Napravnik her second as well after riding Believe You Can to victory in the 2012 edition.

Untapable wins 2014 Kentucky Oaks (Eclipse Sportswire)

Untapable followed that performance with an easy victory against a short field in the Grade 1 Mother Goose Stakes at Belmont Park in late June. After dominating her division to that point, she took her undefeated 2014 record to Monmouth Park to face 3-year-old males in the Haskell Invitational Stakes. Though she went off as the favorite, the filly endured a troubled trip as she was distracted and bumped at the start before losing ground while racing wide throughout the race at Monmouth. She finished fifth behind Bayern, who would win the Pennsylvania Derby and the Breeders’ Cup Classic later that season.

Like Bayern, Untapable would make an appearance at Parx Racing, but this time she stepped back into her division and faced 3-year-old fillies again in the Grade 1 Cotillion Stakes and had no trouble defeating the seven challengers in the field. Asmussen brought his Tapit filly west for the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita. There, she would face older fillies and mares for the first time at 1 1/8 miles. The field included Grade 1 winners Close Hatches, Iotapa, Belle Gallantey, and Don’t Tell Sophia and familiar foes Ria Antonia and Unbridled Forever. Lingering back in sixth for the first six furlongs, Napravnik gave Untapable the green light to go on the far turn, going around horses to enter Santa Anita’s stretch with a short lead over Iotapa. Untapable capped off her nearly undefeated season with a 1 ¼-length victory in the Distaff, earning her the Eclipse Award as champion 3-year-old filly.

Napravnik surprised everyone with her post-race announcement of her imminent retirement to start a family with husband, Joe Sharp, trainer of Grade 1 winner Girvin. Untapable was not quite ready to make that transition herself and returned to the races in 2015.

Untapable came back at age 4 and 5 to compete in Grade 1 races like the Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park, the Personal Ensign Stakes at Saratoga, and the Spinster Stakes at Keeneland, but Untapable was not able to duplicate the championship form she showed in her sophomore season. She raced nine more times with one win, the 2015 Apple Blossom, and several graded stakes placings. The Winchells retired her after the 2016 Fleur de Lis Handicap and sent her to Frankel for her first cover.

After a stellar career on the racetrack, bringing the maroon and white silks more Grade 1s, including a Kentucky Oaks and a Breeders’ Cup Distaff, Untapable’s achievements earned her an eponymous stakes race at Kentucky Downs, the Franklin, Ky. racetrack which Ron Winchell shares ownership of with partner Mark Falcone.