BALTIMORE – 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.

 

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.

 

$150,000 Stella Artois Gallorette (G3) Quotes

 

Graham Motion (Winning Trainer, Ultra Brat) – “It kind of worked out in my favor today. I was worried about running (on the turf). It's so tiring. I can't exactly imagine the difference to running on this kind of turf and running on firm turf. None of us really knew how she would handle it, but obviously she handled it well. Jose did a great job. I have so much confidence in him.

“She ran maybe a little closer than I thought she'd be. I was a little nervous to be honest because it's so tiring but Jose knew what he was doing."

 

Jose Ortiz (Winning Jockey, Ultra Brat) – “She ran perfect. 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.”

 

Christophe Lorieul, assistant to trainer Christophe Clement, Blessed Silence, 2nd) – “She was probably second-best today. She was at the back of the pack, saving ground and we wanted (jockey Javier Castellano) to keep her together on that kind of turf today. She has a short but good turn of foot. She came to do something, then she could not quite catch the winner. But she ran great, and we’re very happy with her performance. She’s graded stakes-placed now, so that’s out of the way.”

 

Irad Ortiz Jr. (Jockey, Blessed Silence, 2nd) – “The race went great. I tried to wait as much as I could, but  she's probably better at a mile flat, but she did good. Second best."

 

Steve Asmussen (Trainer, Brooks House, 3rd) – “Under the conditions we’re just going to have to be happy with the results. I thought she kept trying to run, but it’s softer turf than you’ll ever run on again, probably.”

 

Ricardo Santana Jr. (Jockey, Brooks House, 3rd) – “She wasn’t really handling it, and she still ran. I was happy with how she ran.”

 

Chad Brown. (Trainer, Elysea's World, 4th) – “It didn't look like she handled the ground. It's part of horse racing. Everyone ran over the same ground today. For this filly, today, it didn't seem to work for us. Didn't really have her action on the far turn, and didn't really kick.”

 

Javier Castellano (Jockey, Elysea's World, 4th) -- "She didn't handle it. Too much water in the ground. She was splashing and was struggling a little bit.   It was very soft for her. It was a safe course, though, because we were running on new ground that hadn't been used on the inside. We had a lot of high and tall grass and it was safe. The horses weren't going all the way to the bottom. It was just splashing water and some horses don't like that."