Patience rewarded with double win
With a pedigree to match any racehorse in the whole of Australasia, Ultimata has had a lot to live up to in the performance stakes.
Ultimata is by champion stallion Zabeel from the Group One-winning racemare Marquise, and thus a member of the great family established by iconic broodmare Eight Carat. On top of her parents’ deeds, close relations include her Group One-winning half-sister Shower Of Roses, and no less than five Group One winners produced by Eight Carat. Her tribe of progeny include the champion galloper Octagonal and fellow Australian Group One winners Mouawad and Kaapstad.
It’s taken a while but now, as a rising five-year- old, Ultimata has finally hit her straps. Last month she cleared maiden grade when dead-heating at Te Teko in her eighth career start and on Saturday at Te Rapa she completed a double in far stronger company.
Now her trainers Ken and Bev Kelso and owner-breeders Malcolm Glenn and Matthew and Elizabeth Oram are thinking that their late developer might have something more to add to the family record.
‘‘She looks like she’s turned the corner,’’ commented Ken Kelso. ‘‘We’ve had to go very quietly with her, give her the time to mature physically and mentally, so it’s good to see the results coming together.’’ Ultimata marks the end of the line, Marquise having died suddenly when the last of her 12 foals was just a month old. The Zabeel filly and another orphaned foal at Cambridge Stud in the spring of 2011 were paired up and raised by being fed milk from a bucket.
The name chosen by her owners translates loosely to ‘‘last chance’’, underlining both her real and sentimental value.
Malcolm Glenn and Matthew Oram, who bought Marquise for $100,000 at the 2003 National Yearling Sale, are New Zealanders who have lived abroad since their young adult years. They became friends and went into business together in Hong Kong, where Oram and his wife still live, while Glenn now lives in Santa Fe, that legendary Texan railroad town.
Distance has had little impact on the enjoyment they get from racing horses in New Zealand, and within minutes of Ultimata’s win at Te Rapa on Saturday they were on the phone.
‘‘I have to take my hat off to them,’’ says Ken Kelso. ‘‘As owners they’ve been very patient, they’ve let us take our time and now they’re being rewarded.’’ Ultimata’s dead-heat win at Te Teko was worth less than $5000 but on top of that, as a Pearl Series- enrolled mare she also collected a $10,500 bonus. Saturday’s winning stake was $12,500 and now she’s likely to return to the same venue for a race carrying a stake of $22,500.
‘‘We’ve held back from stepping her up over ground and she’s managed 1400 metres well in her two wins, but if we’re happy with her and carry on, she can step up to 1600 metres next time.’’
‘‘Beyond that we don’t have any plans, but I’d like to think that as she gets more of an idea of what she’s doing as well as strengthening up, she’ll perform over longer distances.
‘‘Whether she can add more black type to the pedigree page only time will tell.’’