Grade 1 winner Ultimate Eagle retired to stud

Ultimate Eagle, who won three graded stakes and earned over $540,000 on the racetrack, has been retired to stand at at Rick Taylor’s Special T Thoroughbreds in Temecula, Calif. A 2014 fee for the 5-year-old Mizzen Mast horse will be announced at a later date.

Bred in Kentucky by Ben P. Walden Jr. and David Hanley, Ultimate Eagle was a $57,000 purchase at the 2009 Keeneland September yearling sale, then was pinhooked to B. J. Wright for $70,000 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. April 2-year-olds in training sale. Racing for Wright, and trained by Michael Pender, Ultimate Eagle won five of 13 starts, with two seconds and three thirds, and earned $547,800 over three seasons.

Ultimate Eagle reached peak form during late 2011 and early 2012, when he won three stakes races in front-running fashion – the Grade 2 Oak Tree Derby at Santa Anita and the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby at Betfair Hollywood Park, both on turf, and the Grade 2 Strub Stakes on Santa Anita’s dirt track. He also placed in three Grade 2 stakes during his career, including a runner-up finish to Coil in the San Pasqual Stakes earlier this year.

Ultimate Eagle is out of the multiple stakes-winning Captain Bodgit mare Letithappencaptain, who has produced three other winners. His notable relatives include Group 3 winner Hanu and stakes winners Babaganush and Wildcat Heiress.