Ultra Brat bounces back in a big way in Gallorette

Alex G. Campbell Jr.’s homebred Ultra Brat bounced back from a subpar effort in a big way, taking the lead at the top of the stretch and rolling to a 10 ¼-length triumph in Saturday’s $150,000 Stella Artois Gallorette (G3) at legendary Pimlico Race Course.

The 67th running of the 1 1/16-mile Gallorette for fillies and mares 3 and up on the turf was the fourth of seven undercard stakes, three graded, on a 14-race program that supported the 143rd renewal of the Preakness Stakes (G1).

Ridden by Jose Ortiz for trainer Graham Motion, who teamed up to win the $300,000 Pimlico Special (G3) with Irish War Cry on Friday’s Black-Eyed Susan Day program, Ultra Brat ($5.40) covered the distance in 1:53.72 over a turf course labeled soft.

“She ran perfect," Ortiz said. "She broke great and we went to a good position. She relaxed well, and that was the most important thing. Because she can be a little high strung, like in the post parade. From the three-eighths pole I tested her to see if she was going to go. I showed her the whip a little bit and she jumped in the bit beautifully. I let her go on. I knew nobody would gain a lot of ground, so I wanted to make the first move.

“First time I rode her, I always liked her. I saw that she’d won already one time over the wet grass, so I knew we had a really good chance. I mean, she was 8-5, but that was a plus. And she was perfect. She handled it well. She got a little tired at the end, just like everybody else, because it was heavy ground. But everything was good.”

It was Ultra Brat’s second graded-stakes win following the Marshua’s River (G3) Jan. 13 at Gulfstream Park in her 5-year-old debut, and the second career Gallorette victory for Fair Hill, Md.-based Motion, following Film Maker in 2005.

Ortiz kept Ultra Brat in the clear two wide tracking pacesetter Stallion Heiress, who posted fractions of 25.12 seconds, 51.56 and 1:18.60 as 18-1 long shot Brooks House and Elysea’s World – racing for the first time since beating Ultra Brat in the Suwannee River (G3) Feb. 10 – led the second flight. Ultra Brat eagerly inherited the lead straightening for home and dashed clear of her rivals down the stretch.

Blessed Silence was a distant second, three-quarters of a length ahead of Brooks House. It was another three-quarters back to Elysea’s World, the 6-5 favorite, followed by Stallion Heiress and Lake Ponchatrain. Cambodia, the defending Gallorette champion, was scratched.

Ultra Brat now has six wins and $378,299 in purse earnings from 14 lifetime starts.