Ultima D breaks maiden in Exacta Systems Juvenile Fillies

Why break your maiden for only $150,000 when you can earn your first victory running for $350,000?

That’s what happened with T. Mike Morgan’s Ultima D, who was coming off two seconds in maiden races at Woodbine and Saratoga. Kentucky Downs offers the richest maiden purses in North America at $130,000. Instead, trainer Wesley Ward opted for the $350,000 Exacta Systems Juvenile Fillies.

Ultima D and jockey Julio Garcia came through with a 1 1/2-length victory over favored Best Performance, who closed from well back but could not threaten the winner, who led through the long Kentucky Downs stretch.

“The thinking was that she’s a really nice filly and we always thought she was stakes caliber,” Ward said. “It’s not about the money, especially when you can get an accolade like that on your resume for breeding. And also we’re thinking down the road to the Breeders’ Cup. This filly looks like she’ll go farther. It’s a stiff (seven furlongs), this race, especially on the soft going like today. I think she’ll be a real candidate for the Breeders’ Cup here, come this fall.”

Ward said he’d look at Keeneland’s Jessamine Stakes as another prep for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Del Mar.

With the rail well out into the course and the turf rated “good,” times were about 10 seconds slower than typical at Kentucky Downs, with Ultima D covering the seven furlongs in 1:32.38. She paid $8.00 as the second choice, a sign of respect for Ward with 2-year-olds on grass and the fact that she was second in her last two starts, both against males on Woodbine’s synthetic surface and the Saratoga grass. The daughter of Scat Daddy was a well-beaten fifth in her debut on dirt at Keeneland, her only prior start against fillies.

“My boss said ride her however you want,” Garcia said of her maiden and stakes victory. “My filly broke good. I was going very easily. And she just kept going.”

Jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. told partners in West Point Thoroughbreds that Best Performance ran very well to be second.

“The winner just kind of got a jump on us,” Hernandez said. “She still ran really nice. She’s definitely a nice filly. She does everything perfectly. She sat there and waited and waited, and when we finally got our room, she spurted on through there really nicely. She’s definitely going to improve off this.