Uni (GB), a Grade 2 winner at Saratoga last year, won her second stakes over the historic turf course on Aug. 4 when the 4-year-old More Than Ready filly came from last to first in the stretch to claim victory in the $100 De La Rose S.
Chances did not look good early on for the eventual winner, with Pas de Soucis (IRE) setting very slow fractions. The half-mile went in :50.83 and the six furlongs in a crawling 1:16.07. Nevertheless, Irad Ortiz, Jr. took Uni six-wide and finished full of run to out-game stablemate Precieuse (IRE) by a head on the wire.
“She’s a special horse,” said Sol Kumin of Head of Plains Partners, who owns Uni with Michael Dubb, Robert LaPenta and Bethlehem Stables. “It looks like she’s coming of age. We’ll bring her back next year (in 2019).”
Kumin said there are no firm plans for Uni’s next start. He said the $400,000 Woodford Reserve Ballston Spa (G2T) Aug. 25 at Saratoga is a logical choice.
Uni won last year’s Sands Point S. (G2) and the Plenty of Grace S. at Aqueduct in April, and is now 5-3-2 in 12 lifetime starts with earnings of $602,880.
More Than Ready is one of North America’s leading stakes sires of 2018, with the likes of Catholic Boy (G1), Funtastic (G1) and Rushing Fall (G2) among his 11 added-money victors.
