Al and Bill Ulwelling's homebred Velocitor became the first winner for freshman sire Mor Spirit when he aired a field of maidens by 7 1/2 lengths in the second race at Woodbine June 30.
Sent off as the favorite in the five-furlong maiden special weight contest on the Tapeta main track, Velocitor snatched the early lead under jockey Rafael Hernandez, shook off his rivals around the turn, and coasted clear unchallenged to the wire. The 2-year-old colt, second in his May 29 debut under the same conditions, stopped the timer in :58.55.
The Ontario bred, trained by Kevin Attard, is the fourth foal out of the stakes-winning Successful Appeal mare Polar Plunge. A half sister to Canadian grade 3 winner Shakopee Town, Polar Plunge is the dam of two winners from four foals to race. Her youngest offspring is a yearling full sister to Velocitor and she was reported as bred to Frosted .
Mor Spirit is a 9-year-old multiple grade 1-winning son of Eskendereya. Campaigned by Michael Lund Petersen and trained by Bob Baffert, Mor Spirit was precocious, capturing the Los Alamitos Futurity (G1) as a juvenile before annexing the Mohegan Sun Metropolitan Handicap (G1) as a 4-year-old. In the Metropolitan, he shaded 1:34 for the mile while scoring by 6 1/4 lengths. He retired with a 6-5-0 record from 14 career starts and bankrolled $1,668,400.
He stands at Spendthrift Farm in Lexington for a fee of $5,000 in 2022.
