Ultra Brat won Saturday’s Gallorette (G3) at Pimlico for trainer Graham Motion. (Photo credit: Maryland Jockey Club).
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.
Mitole Sprints Away from Field in Chick Lang
L. William & Corinne Heiligbrodt’s Mitole found the off track to his liking Saturday, extending his win streak to three races with an eye-opening 6 ¼-length romp in the $200,000 ClearSpan Chick Lang at legendary Pimlico Race Course.
The 43rd running of the six-furlong Chick Lang for 3-year-olds was among seven undercard stakes, three graded, on a 14-race program that supported the 143rd renewal of the Preakness Stakes (G1).
It was the second stakes win of the day for jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. and Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, following their triumph together in $100,000 James W. Murphy with Tap Daddy. They will team up again with Tenfold in the Preakness.
The final time of 1:09.29 over a sloppy and sealed main track was the fastest since Lantana Mob’s 1:09.10 in 2008. Lantana Mob was one of two previous Chick Lang winners for Asmussen, along with Holy Boss in 2015.
Mitole ($2.80), favored at 2-5 off successive victories by 16 combined lengths including the Bachelor Stakes last time out, was in command throughout the race. He sailed through a quarter-mile in 21.67 seconds and a half in 45.93 with Curly’s Rocket and Old Time Revival attempting to apply pressure.
After going five furlongs in 57.63, Mitole bid his rivals goodbye and cruised to the finish under a hand ride for his fourth win from seven career starts, all at six furlongs. Multiple-stakes winner Still Having Fun came with a late run to be second, 2 ¼ lengths ahead of Clouded Judgement.
Run as the Hirsch Jacobs Stakes, the Chick Lang was renamed in 2010 in honor of the Baltimore native and racing industry legend known as “Mr. Preakness,” who served as a trainer, jockey’s agent and racing official as well as director of racing and vice president and general manager of Pimlico, retiring in 1987. He continued to promote racing until his death in 2010 at age 83.
