Ujjayi rewards connections with Ruthless win

It isn’t often a Penn National shipper wins a stakes in New York, but Ujjayi did just that with style last Sunday in the Ruthless at Aqueduct.

The 3-year-old Pennsylvania-bred filly outfought 4-5 favorite Miss Imperial after a vigorous stretch battle to win the seven-furlong race by 1 3/4 lengths. The victory likely punched her return ticket to Aqueduct for the $250,000 Busher Invitational in March.

Ujjayi’s first stakes win was significant for all of her connections.

Owner T.L Wise, a Lexington, Ky., real-estate broker who has campaigned a small stable since 2008, brought his two daughters, two grandchildren, and a future son-in-law along for his first trip to Aqueduct. The Ruthless was Wise’s first stakes win.

The victory was all the more satisfying for Wise since he bought Ujjayi’s dam, Ocean Road, out of the 2009 Keeneland September sale for $4,500. Ocean Road, a modest racehorse who made 31 starts, is out of War Front’s first crop. War Front’s stud fee in 2019 is $250,000.

The Ruthless was jockey Tyler Conner’s first stakes win since he returned to Penn National in November after riding in Southern California for 14 months. Conner, who won 50 races in California, including two graded stakes, has 38 wins since his return and is tied for the lead in the 2019 Penn National standings.

Conner, a Pennsylvania native who has been riding since 2014, was the second-leading rider at Penn National in both 2016 and 2017, and in 2015 finished second in the Delaware Park standings.

He is represented by agent Marty Salvaggio.

“After riding in California, the stage isn’t too big for him when he has to go someplace like Aqueduct,” Salvaggio said.

Trainer Erin McClellan is now 1 for 2 at Aqueduct after having had a starter there in 2012. The Ruthless was her second career stakes win, following the Strike Your Colors at Delaware Park in August with Well Graced, whom she owns.

“It was a great feeling to win the Ruthless,” McClellan said. “It’s nice to represent the horsemen at Penn that way. Penn gets a lot of bad press, but there are some excellent horsemen here.”

Ujjayi is now 2 for 4. She won her debut at Penn National by 7 3/4 lengths and then finished second to undefeated Please Flatter Me in the Blue Mountain Juvenile Fillies at Penn and in the Gin Talking at Laurel Park.

“Ujjayi is a Smarty Jones,” McClellan said. “Some can be difficult, but she’s a cut above what I’ve had before. Mentally, she’s very strong and has it together.”

Please Flatter Me also is being pointed to the Busher.

“I’m not sure we’re good enough to beat her, but I’m not afraid to take her on again,” McClellan said.

McClellan, 40, grew up in the Harrisburg, Pa., area. She started out riding show horses and then “found out I could make money at the track instead of just spending it.”

She started working at Penn National when she was 16, galloping horses and working as a groom. After college, she worked outside of racing but ultimately returned.

McClellan has been training since 2010. She and horseman John Conner, Tyler’s father, have been a couple the past four years and in 2016 combined their stables, with the majority of the horses running under McClellan’s name.

“John’s an excellent trainer, it’s worked out good for us,” McClellan said. “We do everything together, and I think run a first-class, top-notch operation. We have very good people working for us, and everyone tries really hard.”

McClellan and Conner went a combined 48 for 280 last year, a win average of 17 percent. So far in 2019, they are 7 for 18 with a New York stakes win in the bank.