Ultrafleet foundation of line responsible for Preakness winner Rombauer

The Thoroughbred foal crop of 1992 in New Jersey numbered 517 foals, according to statistics from The Jockey Club. One of those was Ultrafleet, who went winless in four starts, all for John and Diane Fradkin, who purchased her for $10,500 at the Keeneland September yearling sale.

“We decided to retire her and make her a broodmare,” John Fradkin said. “Pretty much everybody said that was stupid, but we did it anyway, and it turned out pretty well.”

Indeed. Improbably, Ultrafleet, a daughter of Afleet, became the foundation root of a family tree that has expanded to include six graded/group stakes winners worldwide, with its brightest stars including late European Horse of the Year Roaring Lion and the newly minted Preakness Stakes winner Rombauer.

Ultrafleet enjoyed modest success early in her broodmare career. Her second foal, Demo Memo, was a winner who went on to produce a pair of stakes-placed California-breds. Demo Memo’s fourth foal was Grade 3-placed Shadow Raider. Her sixth foal provided a major breakthrough. Cambiocorsa, an Avenue of Flags filly foaled in 2002, won five stakes, including the Grade 3 Las Ciengas Handicap and Grade 3 Senator Ken Maddy Stakes. As a broodmare, Cambiocorsa has produced graded stakes winners Moulin de Mougin and Schiaparelli, as well as stakes winners Alexis Tangier and Bronson. Her stakes-placed daughter Vionnet produced four-time Group 1 winner Roaring Lion, the 2018 European Horse of the Year.

Two years after the birth of Cambiocorsa, Ultrafleet delivered her full brother California Flag. A millionaire who was co-campaigned by the Fradkins, California Flag made five straight appearances in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, winning the race in 2009. He won five graded stakes.

Ultrafleet’s second-to-last foal prior to her death in 2012 was Cashmere, whom the Fradkins retained for their small broodmare band. The unraced Cowboy Cal mare, already the dam of stakes-placed Cono and Treasure Trove, now has a Preakness winner in Rombauer.

“It’s very meaningful,” John Fradkin said. “It’s pretty special. It’s a pedigree update that’ll be there for a long time for a lot of broodmares. Yeah, we’re very proud.”