French Champion two-year-old Ultra, who crowned an undefeated juvenile campaign with victory in the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere for Godolphin, has been retired to stand at Haras du Logis alongside his sire Manduro. Ultra will stand at a fee of €7,000 Oct 1st Special Live Foal. A limited number of lifetime breeding rights are also available.
Trained by Andre Fabre and homebred by Sheikh Mohammed, Ultra made a winning debut in July at two over 1,400m at Clairefontaine, where he beat G1 Grand Prix de Paris winner Mont Ormel.
He earned his place in the championship race for French two-year-olds with a bloodless win over 1,600m at Longchamp in September, before making his winning return to course and distance on the undercard of Golden Horn's Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
He won the one-mile test on Arc day in the fastest time ever – faster even than all its runnings as the Grand Criterium. Among those he vanquished in his G1 were future 2,000 Guineas winner Galileo Gold and a total of three G1 winners and seven Group or Stakes winners, succeeding where Fabre's previous two runners in the race – Territories and Lope de Vega – had come up short.
On a belated seasonal debut at three, Ultra was a close second in the G2 Prix Eugene Adam over 2,000m. He then won his sole start at four when easily triumphing in the Listed Prix Jacques Laffitte over 1800m at Maisons-Laffitte.
Fabre said: “Ultra is the ideal horse. Genuine, good-looking and a pleasure to train and watch race.” Ultra is the best juvenile from the influential Monsun line, rated superior even to his sire Manduro, who was Germany's Champion two-year-old in his day and is sire of three G1-winning juveniles.
Ultra is a half-brother to the G3 Prix Minerve winner Synopsis, and hails from the outstanding Niarchos family of top performers Hector Protector, Bosra Sham and Shanghai who all won one-mile Classics in either Britain or France.
Sam Bullard, Darley's director of stallions, said: “Ultra is a strong horse with particularly impressive conformation. He's a record-breaking Champion two-year-old with Classic bloodlines and I'm sure breeders will be delighted when they see him at Haras du Logis. He is a fine addition to Darley’s increasingly impressive roster in France, and it's wonderful to see Ultra alongside his sire as an example of what a great type Manduro can produce.”
For further information, please contact Julian Ince on +33 (0)2 33 36 21 20 or Antonin Pelsy on +44(0)7436 283583.
