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LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Untapables dominant effort in the Kentucky Oaks gave Rosie Napravnik big momentum in her bid to become the first female jockey to win the Kentucky Derby. Whether she follows up aboard Vicars In Trouble on Saturday in the 140th Run for the Roses and becomes the eighth rider to complete the Oaks-Derby double remains to be seen, but Napravnik is making the Oaks her domain. Untapable gave Napravnik her second Oaks win in three years and put her on the brink of history by surging past My Miss Sophia entering the stretch and rolling to a 4 1/2-length victory Friday in the 140th Oaks at Churchill Downs. "We got the first half completed, so were moving on to the second half of the double," Napravnik said. The overwhelming favourite in the $1 million race for 3-year-old fillies earned, Untapable raced her third straight victory and fifth in seven starts. She has won her last three by a combined margin of nearly 22 lengths. "We got into a great position," said Napravnik, who has ridden the horse for all but one start. "She runs her best when she can get into a great stride and she relaxes so nicely. She has grown up and she is maturing. She is magnificent." Untapables victory also turned up the spotlight on trainer Steve Asmussen, who is being investigated by Kentucky and New York racing officials after an animal rights group alleged he and his former assistant mistreated horses in their care. Asmussen sidestepped the matter, choosing instead to focus on his horses stellar closing run. However, Winchell Thoroughbreds racing manager David Fiske conceded that the attention was "a little bit" of a distraction, adding, "Id be lying if I said it wasnt. ... But we thought we had the goods when we came in here and she proved us right." Thanks to Napravnik, Untapable positioned herself to charge at just the right time. Breaking from the far 13th spot, Untapable stayed within reach of early leaders Sugar Shock, My Miss Sophia and Thank You Marylou before getting clear outside turning for home. The winner ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:48.68, the races second-fastest time, and paid $4, $3.20 and $2.60. "The development of the filly, I think Rosie has been a key part of it," Ausmussen said. My Miss Sophia returned $4.20 and $4.40, and Unbridled Forever paid $6. Untapables dramatic finish followed some pre-race suspense involving two horses who violently balked in the gate. The first was Empress of Midway, partly owned by Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino. She thrashed and flipped in the gate and then sat down for a tense moment. Jockey Corey Nakatani wasnt hurt in the fracas and stood by watching as workers quickly got the horse out; she walked away uninjured but was quickly scratched. "She just went up in the gate and lost her balance and kind of sat down on her haunches and couldnt get herself back up in the right position," attending track veterinarian Larry Bramlage said afterward. "We didnt see anything obviously wrong and shes back to her barn." Minutes after horses in surrounding gates were guided back in, second betting choice Fashion Plate also had issues before settling down. She hopped out of the gate and quickly fell behind in finishing 11th of 12 entrants. "She was real tight in the gate," jockey Gary Stevens said. "When (Empress of Midway) flipped, she tried to flip. She has never had to stand in the gate that long and shes used to smaller fields. As soon as the gate opened, my race was over." At that point, Napravnik was guiding Untapable to one of her smoothest victories before 113,071, which is saying something considering how dominant she has been this year. 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The Canadiens captain, who underwent surgery on his injured biceps in the off-season, had been skating with the team in a non-contact capacity since last week.PITTSBURGH -- The lessons Chuck Noll passed down to his players -- maxims that often applied as much to life as to football -- are tacked on the wall in Mike Mularkeys office. They say things like "stress is when you dont know what youre doing" and "I wasnt hired to motivate players, I was hired to coach motivated players." They ring as true now as they did when Mularkey heard them the first time playing tight end for the Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Fame coach 25 years ago. Its why Mularkey made sure he had a chance to say goodbye, joining Steelers past and present, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and several hundred friends and family on Tuesday for a funeral mass honouring Noll, who passed away last week at age 82. "Ive gotten more from Chuck off the field as much as I got on the field about how to do things the right way," said Mularkey, now a tight ends coach with Tennessee. "Family was important. Balance in life was important." And that, as much as the record four Super Bowls Noll won while transforming the Steelers from an NFL afterthought into a dynasty during the 1970s is what will resonate for the city he championed and the team he built from scratch. The men he moulded embraced at Saint Paul Cathedral. They clutched programs featuring a picture of a vibrant Noll wearing a polo shirt, shorts and the closest he ever came to a smile while at work. Each vowed to carry on the lessons Noll imparted from his first day of coaching to his waning days. Steelers President Art Rooney II and Hall of Fame defensive tackle Joe Greene were among the pallbearers, a responsibility Greene wished he could have avoided but one he ultimately welcomed as a final gift from the coach who changed his life. "It meant Chuck was thinking of me," Greene said, "and thats special." Noll and Greene will be forever entwined in Steelers history. Noll was a rookie head coach in 1969 when he selected the massive but somewhat unknown Greene in the first round of the NFL draft. It was a pick met with skepticism but one that changed the course of the organization and Greenes life. "If he hadnt chosen me, maybe I wouldnt have been a Pittsburgh Steeler," Greene said. "Maybe I wouldnt have had the opportunity to be coached by Chuck Noll. And that probably would not have fared very well for me." Instead, Noll and Greene served as the ccore of a team that dominated the 1970s, winning four titles in a six-year span thanks to a seemingly never-ending stream of Hall of Famers guided by a man who made it his mission to ensure they learned more than just Xs and Os.dddddddddddd Greene, nicknamed "Mean Joe" for his menacing demeanour on the field, remembers destroying a door one day "when things werent going my way." Rather than let Greene off the hook or rip into the cornerstone of the "Steel Curtain" defence, Noll took a different approach. "Chuck came to the room and knocked on the door and said Thatll be $500 and that was the end of the story," Greene said. Despite rising to the top of his profession, Noll preferred not to bask in the limelight. Its telling that while Hall of Famers like Greene, Blount, running back Franco Harris and wide receiver John Stallworth sat in the pews at the cathedral -- just a few miles across town from where Noll worked at bygone Three Rivers Stadium -- they were surrounded by longtime employees of the organization and friends from all walks of life. Bishop David Zubik, who performed Tuesdays ceremony, was a young priest in the late 1970s when he somehow managed to get Noll to agree to give a speech on leadership to a group of high school athletes. They set it up in the spring of 1979. The speech wasnt until January 1980. Months passed. The season came and went, ending with the Steelers beating the Los Angeles Rams at the Rose Bowl to claim the teams fourth Vince Lombardi Trophy. Two days later back in Pittsburgh, Noll drove himself to the retreat where he found a stunned Zubik waiting for him. Noll delivered as promised, giving a rousing talk to a group of young players that included future Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino, then a local prep star. It didnt matter that Noll might have been exhausted. It didnt matter that he had every right to cancel. That simply wasnt Nolls way. He made a promise. He had to keep it. "Thats the thing about coach Noll," Zubik said. "Everybody was important." Its a legacy that will carry on in the city Noll called home and within the walls of the franchise he defined. "Four championships, youve got to feel that," current Steelers centre Maurkice Pouncey said. "We walk by those Super Bowl trophies every day here, and it all started with Coach Noll." ' ' '