Ultra Blend to bow out on a rise, and retire to breed in 2012
The future certainly looks bright for the 5-year-old mare, Ultra Blend, who defeated her foes, Zazu and Switch, to win the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch at Del Mar on 6 August, 2011, under jockey T Baze.
It was a good run, downing her rivals on Del Mar’s synthetic surface over at a distance of 1 1/16 miles, and she covered the entire distance in 1 minute and 42.28 seconds.
On the morning of 7 August, trainer Art Sherman reported that the champion mare showed signs of fatigue, which is normal for someone like her.
The signs of fatigue were to be expected because the winning effort she puts in and she is one of those fillies that give their 100% to win the race and take a day or two to come back to their own.
After earning a spot in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic by winning the Clement Hirch’s “Win and You’re In” event, the daughter of Richly Blended will aim for the all important Breeders’ Cup fixture at Churchill Downs on 4 November, 2011.
Before the Breeders’ Cup event, trainer Art Sherman will be looking for a Churchill Downs meet prep race for Ultra Blend, which could possibly be at Santa Anita somewhere in October. The race will possibly be her next start.
However, there is a downside for Ultra Blend fans after the fall, as trainer Art Sherman and Owner Nels Erickson are considering to retire the mare from running and they are thinking of breeding the mare in 2012.
All this means that this autumn will be the 5-year-old’s last time on the race track. It could not have come at a worst time, especially when she has started making headlines after each of her starts, and that she has gained a significant amount of respect
in the older filly and mare division.
Her highest accomplishment of her career came in the Grade 2 Milady Handicap, where she was promoted from second place to the first when St Trinians was disqualified.
Ultra Blend ran over at a distance of 1 1/16 miles under David Flores on 21 May, 2011.
Ultra Blend has gone on to win seven stakes in all of her career but those races didn’t have the stature of a big race, and they were all state bred or minor events.
The mare is best around one turn, but she hasn’t run a mile and an eighth in her career, that’s the distance of the Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic that she has entered.
However, the way she came back from behind in a late surge to shock her opponents in the Clement Hirsch, anything is possible from Ultra Blend.
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