Ultra Blend Has the Right Combination
It is not surprising that trainer Steve Sherman did not want to make confident statements in regard to Ultra Blend being in the starting gates for the $75 000 Tiburon Stakes, which was held at the Golden Gate Fields on Saturday, 10 January 2008. She is probably one of the calmest and most laid-back fillies on the track today, and during her workout leading up to the race, she didn’t put in too much effort to work. She looked indifferent about her workout session and Sherman was not sure how she would perform during the race. But Ultra Blend proved that when she is called upon to give her best effort, she is prepared to perform beyond expectation.
Ultra Blend made her career debut on the 11th of September 2008 at the San Joaquin County Fair in a $25 000 maiden-claiming racing event, where she finished in second place. She was then entered in a maiden claiming $32 000 event, at Golden Gate Fields, where she won comfortably and continued to win on the 14th of November and again on the 5th of December. She has come up against formidable competitors, but her calm attitude has allowed her to not feel threatened and to run her own race. Even though she qualified to run in the $250 000 Sunshine Millions Oaks, taking place at the Santa Anita Racecourse on 24 January 2009, Sherman decided to rather run her in the Tiburon Stakes to gain more confidence.
On Saturday, under the guidance of jockey, Roberto Gonzales, Ultra Blend found she was facing worthy competitors in the five horse field and broke first, but Joe’sgirlisgolden took a speedy lead on the rail. Gonzales remained determined as they chased down Joe’sgirlisgolden and comfortably took her position from her. The only challenge left was to hold off Pretty Katherine and her jockey, Russell Baze. After winning the six furlong race Gonzalez recounted his strategy, “My filly was just breezing down the backstretch. I knew I had the leader on the turn. I started riding my horse coming to the stretch to get the jump on Russell. His horse looked like the one I had to worry about. My filly was a little lazy changing leads but once she did, she was gone.”
Sherman was very excited over the victory, and commented that he now thinks that Ultra Blend is ready for bigger racing challenges and will be looking at the $100 000 Grade 3 Santa Paula Stakes as a possibility. Moving Ultra Blend to new surroundings and racecourse is not a concern for Sherman, as his filly takes everything in her stride. She seems to be a filly that has a lot of potential and a brilliant racing career ahead of her.
