‘Valentine’s’ Day at the Big A?

Venti Valentine (Firing Line), a dominating seven-length winner with a flashy 92 Beyer in the Busher Invitational S. Mar. 5, will be favored over seven rivals to punch her ticket to the GI Kentucky Oaks via Saturday's GIII Gazelle S. at Aqueduct.

The New York-bred fell just a neck short of Nest (Curlin) two back in last December's GII Demoiselle S. over track and trip, the only blemish in her four career starts.

“We knew she had talent early on, and turning from two to three, you could see the right change on her,” trainer Jorge Abreu said of Venti Valentine's development. “She got stronger, she was more focused and she showed that in her last race.”

Nostalgic (Medaglia d'Oro), fourth at second asking in the Demoiselle, failed to take to turf as the 4-1 favorite in her sophomore unveiling at Gulfstream Feb. 5. The Godolphin homebred rebounded in style, however, with a visually impressive optional claiming tally back on dirt in Hallandale Mar. 3.

'TDN Rising Star' Classy Edition (Classic Empire), a winner of her first three versus fellow New York-breds, including a pair of stakes, held her own in her first try against open company finishing second behind the talented Kathleen O. (Upstart) in the one-turn mile GII Davona Dale S. Mar. 5.

The Gazelle offers 100-40-20-10 Kentucky Oaks qualifying points to the top-four finishers.

The post ‘Valentine’s’ Day at the Big A? appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Second Gold Strike Extends Final Furlong

Evidently she's no Busher, to look at. Between 2011 and 2018, in fact, she changed hands four times as a pregnant mare at Keeneland, her value gradually declining until the late Mike Recio was able to purchase her for just $13,000.

The previous evening, Recio had called Dan Zanatta, founding/managing partner of Final Furlong Racing with Vince Roth, and announced: “Tomorrow morning, I'm buying you a broodmare.”

Zanatta was not enthused. Final Furlong was evolving nicely, syndicating New York-bred fillies. Though they did have one broodmare, apart from pinhooking weanlings, the focus was primarily on racing in the Empire State program.

“No! Whatever you do, please don't buy us another mare!”

“Don't worry about it,” Recio replied. “She'll only cost about 10 grand, you're going to love her, it's a no-brainer.”

Then the agent revealed her identity.

“Oh!” Zanatta said. “Right. Okay. Yeah, tomorrow you're going to buy us a mare!”

And that was because, deep in the November Sale, Recio had found the dam of a filly who was then shaping up as Final Furlong's most promising talent yet. The edge they had was a certainty that Espresso Shot (Mission Impazible) would contribute more to the page of Glory Gold (Medaglia d'Oro) than was apparent, shortly before the auction, when she finished last in the GII JPMorgan Chase Jessamine S. at Keeneland.

“That race was a mistake,” Zanatta says. “We had Espresso Shot pegged as a two-turn, turf horse–and we had read her all wrong. Based on her early breezes, she'd run first time out in a turf sprint and was actually entered in a turf route for her second start at Belmont. It was only when that got rained off, and she won so impressively, that we started thinking maybe she was a dirt horse after all.

“So after the Jessamine, now that she had changed our minds for us, we were looking to put her back into some New York-bred stake races. We thought she'd be pretty competitive, and that if she was going to earn black type, then her dam was a no-brainer as a Medaglia d'Oro mare at that kind of money.”

The upshot, three and a half years on, is that Final Furlong have meanwhile fielded two winners of the Busher Invitational S., both out of the same mare, while having bred one of them.

Espresso Shot herself quickly vindicated the team's judgement, the Busher only one of four stakes type wins in the course of a $516,625 career that prompted the Spendthrift team to give $300,000 for her at Fasig-Tipton last November. Even in her own right, then, she secured impressive dividends on the $69,000 she had cost as a yearling in the New York catalog at Saratoga.

But that has turned out to be not even half the story. When Recio turned up Glory Gold, she was being offered in foal to the young Crestwood sire Firing Line. If anything, Zanatta considered that a bonus.

“I felt Firing Line was a little underappreciated,” he says. “After all, he was second to American Pharoah in the Derby. And it also really hit a chord with me that the mare had been purchased by several groups before us, to support their own stallions. That made me think the mare would hit one day.”

But while Final Furlong generally only breeds to sell, the Firing Line filly delivered by Glory Gold on Valentine's Day would have to be offered in the volatile yearling market looming in the middle of a pandemic. And since she was shaping up so nicely, it was decided to keep her for the racing division.

As a result, Final Furlong could consecutively involve two bands of brothers in the project. The mare herself had been shared with Maspeth Stable, duly listed as co-breeder of the filly then syndicated between Final Furlong and Parkland Thoroughbreds.

“I live in Garden City, 10 minutes from Belmont, and Maspeth Stable is a group of fellows from the same neighborhood,” Zanatta explains. “They're pretty much all retired now, but they all grew up within a few blocks of each other in Queens, and stayed close their whole lives. They're golfing buddies with a small private stable, and they'll take a leg nearly every time we buy a yearling to race. They partnered with us on Espresso Shot, so when I called about the mare, they jumped at that opportunity too.”

As for Parkland Thoroughbreds, the closeness of the relationship can be judged from the fact that Zanatta is engaged to Tracy Weston, whose father Steve is a principal of the stable.

Glory Gold's Firing Line filly, meanwhile named Venti Valentine, received the usual education with Brandon and Ali Rice in Ocala before joining Jorge Abreu at the track.

“And everyone, from the grooms to the riders, to the trainers on the farm, all the way to Jorge, has said from day one that Venti Valentine was night-and-day better than Espresso Shot,” Zanatta discloses. “So we always thought we had something special. And whereas with Espresso Shot we were kind of learning on the fly, I feel we've been able to be a lot smarter this time. We've had another three or four years watching those stakes races cycle through, year in, year out, and we've planned out her career really very diligently–even from before she'd raced. We knew what we had, and we knew what the hope was.”

Her first big objective was duly identified as the Maid of the Mist S.

“Even if she was still a maiden, even if she was still unraced, the goal was to be in that race at Belmont in October,” Zanatta says. “So we were waiting for a race to come up that made sense, with that in mind. We ended up getting stuck with a six-furlong sprint, but luckily she was good enough to win by a nose despite getting left at the gate and a really wide trip. That made us really excited.”

They had already decided that Venti Valentine was not just classier than Espresso Shot but also more rugged, and that a second turn would be within her compass. After she ran Nest (Curlin) to a neck in the GII Demoiselle S., they gave her a winter in Florida before trying to scale a three-rung ladder via the Busher and the GII Gazelle S. to the GI Kentucky Oaks itself.

That agenda went from pencil to ink at Aqueduct last weekend, following a spectacular seven-length rout that leaves Venti Valentine with 54 Oaks points in the bank already.

Whatever happens from here, she has already conferred an unusual distinction on her dam, as her second daughter to win the same stakes. Even before that, her updates had helped Glory Gold's weanling filly by Omaha Beach achieve $220,000 at the Keeneland November Sale from Sewanne Investments.

Being empty this year, meanwhile, Glory Gold has had an early cover by Munnings–for which purpose she is currently with Mike Heitzmann and his team at Stone Bridge Farm, though her customary base is Dr. Scott Ahlschwede's River Valley Stock Farm near Saratoga. (Albeit the foaling of Venti Valentine herself is a credit to Chad DeGregory's Schuylerville Thoroughbreds.)

Zanatta does not pretend that the mare's genetic prowess is blatantly obvious in her physique.

“To be honest, she's quite a plain mare,” he admits. “She does have some size, but if you wanted to be critical you might say she's a little upright, in the shoulder; she may not have the strongest top line in the world; she may not have a ton of leg. But I'd say she puts a lot more leg onto her foals than she has herself, a lot more shoulder, and a lot more length. She's definitely moving up her foals.”
In that belief, Final Furlong had already doubled down on the family by the private purchase of one of Glory Gold's earlier daughters, the 8-year-old, four-time winner Goldtown (Speightstown).

And while Medaglia d'Oro plainly requires no introduction, actually this family has some cosmopolitan flavors deeper down. Glory Gold's mother is by Lord Gayle, whose sire Sir Gaylord gave us so many good broodmare sires: Sir Ivor, Habitat, Drone. She was bred by Edward P. Evans from an Argentinian Classic runner-up, extending a line that traces to Epsom Oaks winner Brulette (Fr) (Bruleur {Fr}). That pre-war matriarch unites the pedigrees of such European luminaries as All Along (Fr) (Targowice), Vaguely Noble (Ire) (Vienna {GB}) and Diminuendo (Diesis {GB}). A more proximate credit, moreover, is Glory Gold's half-brother Mocha Express (Java Gold), a 16-time winner who broke the Louisiana Downs track record in a graded stakes over nine furlongs.

If there has been an element of serendipity to Venti Valentine, her emergence is perfectly consistent with Final Furlong's dynamic progress. Zanatta, still only 35, was a college intern at Merrill Lynch when he met Roth, who introduced him to the fractional share action he was enjoying through the likes of Sovereign Stable and Dream Team Stable. After Zanatta graduated, they created Final Furlong.

“I'd say we've been doing it in earnest for around five or six years,” Zanatta explains. “Our niche in the market is pretty focused. We buy New York fillies. We think the economics make sense, for us and our partners: we can afford some of the best fillies in that division every year. And for four straight years now we've had a New York-bred 2-year-old get black type. We also had horses nominated for New York-bred divisional honors in each of those years. Typically we have eight to 12 horses at the track, so I think that's a real testament to the model.”

With horses syndicated in the $75,000-$150,000 range, and partners generally staking 3-5%, Venti Valentine is another horse offering to evangelize a sport historically perceived as a preserve of the wealthy.

“I would say we cover the whole gamut,” Zanatta says. “We have people who are able to afford $10,000 or $15,000 every year, investing in each crop. But we also have people with a budget of $3,000 every other year. And very often it's the ones at the nearest entry point that are most passionate.”

Return business is so strong that access instead tends to be limited by demand. With Venti Valentine herself, for instance, all bar one of the Espresso Shot partners went straight back in. Needless to say, calls are now coming in about buying into their adventure, and some calculations will doubtless have to be made before the Gazelle. In bringing so many people together already, however, this filly is first and foremost an apt memorial to her dam's purchaser, whose loss last September at just 46 devastated so many in the community.

“Mike treated his clients like friends and family,” Zanatta says. “He was a big part of our whole operation, in every aspect: mares, yearlings, pinhooks. But more than anything, as everyone knows, Mike loved to party. So we became good friends not just with Mike, but with all his staff, with his whole family. So it was a huge loss to this giant circle of people he built around himself. We miss his daily calls, and we miss his friendship.”

But Zanatta stresses how the same standards of excellence are maintained across the Final Furlong team, from the Rices in Ocala to the trainer for whom Venti Valentine could become his breakout horse.

“I think we gave Jorge the fourth horse he ever had,” Zanatta recalls. “We had a filly coming off a layoff and, as we normally race in New York, we were interviewing trainers to take her at Gulfstream for the winter. Most of them, we hung up and I never heard from them again. But Jorge was so hungry that he called me every single week, after our initial conversation–inquiring about the filly, sharing his opinion on all the videos he'd looked up, calling Brandon and Ali about how she was coming along. That's how interested he was, and that's how he got our business. So we've been involved together from the ground up, and it's been wildly successful.”

Sure enough, Final Furlong enjoyed its best year yet in 2021, with 10 wins at 29% and an average of $17,000 per start. Zanatta's first commitment remains as a senior vice-president at T.D. Bank, but it's heartening that someone with that background considers the New York Thoroughbred a viable investment vehicle–even before the advent of a filly that could send the operation to the next level.

“It's been a long story in the making, from the day Mike rang about this mare,” Zanatta says. “But so far all the planning has come out quite nicely, and she's definitely exceeding our expectations. Remember that after Espresso Shot, we're talking about a group of friends that have been going to the races together and rooting for their horses for four or five years now. And then going out to celebrate every win, all the time becoming more comfortable about bringing friends and family to the racetrack. There's a lot of people having a lot of fun.”

The post Second Gold Strike Extends Final Furlong appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

TDN Kentucky Oaks Top 10 for Mar. 10

It was a big weekend for the 3-year-old fillies with prep races for the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks held at Aqueduct, Santa Anita, Gulfstream and Turfway. Secret Oath (Arrogate) remains on top for Wayne Lukas, but it was tempting to move Kathleen O. (Upstart) to the top spot after another impressive win, this time in the GII Davona Dale S. In California, the Bob Baffert-trained Eda (Munnings) won the GIII Santa Ysabel S., but until the Baffert horses are nominated to the Oaks they won't be included in our rankings. That also includes GIII Las Virgenes S. winner Adare Manor (Uncle Mo).

It will be a quiet couple of weeks for the nation's top 3-year-old fillies as the next race that includes Kentucky Oaks points will be the Mar. 26 GII Fair Grounds Oaks.

The Kentucky Oaks Future Wager will be available starting Friday and closes Sunday at 6:30 p.m. Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) is the 4-1 morning line favorite, followed by Secret Oath at 6-1 and Kathleen O. at 8-1.

1) SECRET OATH (Arrogate–Absinthe Minded, by Quiet American) O-Briland Farm; B-Briland Farm, Robert & Stacy Mitchell (KY); T-D. Wayne Lukas. Lifetime Record: GSW, 5-3-0-1, $285,167. Last Start: 1st GIII Honeybee S. Next Start: GIII Fantasy S., OP, Apr. 2. KY Oaks Points: 60.

Trainer Wayne Lukas continues to say that the GIII Fantasy S. will likely be next for Secret Oath, but he has not completely ruled out a start against males in the GI Arkansas Derby. With most other trainers, there would be no debate and the Fantasy would be the clear choice, but Lukas has a history of running fillies vs. colts and is one of only three trainers to win the GI Kentucky Derby with a filly, which he did in 1988 with Winning Colors. The Arkansas Derby makes perfect sense for Secret Oath. For one, unless Bob Baffert ships in something from his first string, she will be the favorite. And if she doesn't run in the Arkansas Derby, she can't run in the Kentucky Derby. She won't have any points. There's also the matter of the purse, $600,000 for the Fantasy vs. $1.25 million for the Arkansas Derby. C'mon, Wayne–this might be your last chance to win a Kentucky Derby. Go for it.

2) KATHLEEN O. (Upstart–Quaver, by Blame) O-Winngate Stables, LLC; B-Gainesway Thoroughbreds Ltd. & Bridlewood Farm (KY); T-Shug McGaughey. Sales History: $8,000 wlg '19 KEENOV; $50,000 ylg '20 OBSOCT; $275,000 2yo '21 OBSAPR. Lifetime Record: GSW, 3-3-0-0, $226,280. Last Start: 1st GII Davona Dale S. Next Start: GII Gulfstream Park Oaks, GP, Apr. 2. KY Oaks Points: 50.

After Kathleen O. had recorded impressive wins in a maiden race and the Cash Run S., she was asked to step up over the weekend and prove that she was good enough to handle graded stakes company. That was the storyline when she faced six others in the Davona Dale on Saturday at Gulfstream and the end result was another visually impressive win. It takes her a while to get going, but once she does she displays a tremendous turn of foot. Once again, she made it look easy, powering past her competition in the stretch. The only knock on her is that she never gets a particularly good Beyer figure. After earning a 67 and then a 78 in her first two starts, she was given an 85 Beyer for the Davona Dale. She will try two turns for first time in the Apr. 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks, but that shouldn't be a problem. If anything, she should be better around two turns than one. An exciting prospect.

3) NEST (Curlin–Marion Ravenwood, by A.P. Indy) O-Repole Stable, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners & Michael House; B-Ashview Farm & Colts Neck Stables (KY); T-Todd Pletcher. Sales History: $350,000 ylg '20 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: GSW, 4-3-0-1, $265,000. Last Start: 1st Suncoast S. Next Start: GI Central Bank Ashland S., KEE, Apr. 8. KY Oaks Points: 20.

Nest was not in action last weekend, but her win in the GII Demoiselle S. has never looked better. The runner-up, Venti Valentine (Firing Line), came back and won the Busher Invitational at Aqueduct. The race also produced next-out winner Magic Circle (Kantharos), who took the Busanda S. In her second start after finishing fourth in the Demoiselle; and Nostalgic (Medaglia d'Oro) picked up a win on Sunday at Gulftream in an allowance. After his filly won the Demoiselle, trainer Todd Pletcher picked out a soft spot for her, the Suncoast S. at Tampa Bay Downs, which she won by six lengths. It will get tougher next time as she is scheduled to try Grade I company for the first time when she goes in the Ashland at Keeneland.

4) ECHO ZULU (Gun Runner–Letgomyecho, by Menifee) 'TDN Rising Star' O-L and N Racing LLC & Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC; B-Betz/J. Betz/Burns/CHNNHK/Magers/CoCo Equine/ Ramsby (KY); T-Steve Asmussen. Sales History: $300,000 ylg '20 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: Ch. 2yo Filly, MGISW, 4-4-0-0, $1,480,000. Last Start: 1st GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies S. Next Start: GII Fair Grounds Oaks, FG, Mar. 26. KY Oaks Points: 30.

Echo Zulu, last year's champion 2-year-old filly, has yet to race this year and her connections have said there is no guarantee that she will make the Oaks. But she continues to make progress in the mornings and has now had five workouts this year, the last three at five furlongs. That may be enough for her to start in the Fair Grounds Oaks later this month. If she does, there shouldn't be any problem making the Kentucky Oaks. Should she win the Fair Grounds race she would reassume her spot as the best 3-year-old filly in training. Don't forget how dominant she was last year and in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies.

5) HAPPY SOUL (Runhappy–Cowgirl Lucky, by Stephen Got Even) O-Gayla Rankin; B-Harris Training Center, LLC (KY); T-Wesley Ward. Sales History: $50,000 ylg '20 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: MSW, 4-3-1-0, $238,500. Last Start: 1st Dixie Belle S. Next Start: Next Start: GI Central Bank Ashland S., KEE, Apr. 8. KY Oaks Points: 0.

It's official. They're going for it. Trainer Wesley Ward has confirmed that Happy Soul will go next in the Ashland, a major prep for the Kentucky Oaks. The other option was the GIII Beaumont S., a seven-furlong sprint. The Ashland will be quite the test for Happy Soul, who will attempt to stretch out from six furlongs to 1 1/16 miles. She's won three times, most recently in the Dixie Belle S. at Oaklawn, and when it comes to sheer speed there may not be a faster filly in the country. It will all come down to whether or not she can carry that speed a distance. That Ward is willing to try it tells you how much confidence he has in this filly.

 

Venti Valentine | Sarah Andrew

 

6) VENTI VALENTINE (Firing Line–Glory Gold, by Medaglia d'Oro) O-NY Final Furlong Racing Stable & Parkland Thoroughbreds; B-Final Furlong Racing Stable & Maspeth Stable (NY); T-Jorge Abreu. Lifetime Record: MSW & GSP, 4-3-1-0, $366,250. Last Start: 1st Busher Invitational S. Next Start: GIII Gazelle S., AQU, Apr. 9. KY Oaks Points: 54.

New to the rankings, Venti Valentine made her way on to the list with a seven-length win in the Busher for trainer Jorge Abreu. There were only five horses in the race, but it was far from an easy spot. The field included last-out stakes winners Shotgun Hottie (Gun Runner) and Magic Circle, as well as the Shug McGaughey-trained Radio Days (Gun Runner), who was the 1-2 favorite. Venti Valentine was dismissed at 5-1, but there was nothing fluky about her win. The New York-bred backed up her performance from last year when she was a close second behind Nest in the Demoiselle. Trainer Jorge Abreu is looking for his first graded stakes win. He won the 2019 Busher with Venti Valentine's half-sister, Espresso Shot (Mission Impazible), who did not make it to the Oaks.

7) TURNERLOOSE (Nyquist–Goaltending, by A.P. Indy) O-Ike & Dawn Thrash; B-William Humphries & Altair Farms LLC (KY); T-Brad Cox. Sales History: $32,000 RNA wlg '19 KEENOV; $50,000 ylg '20 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: GSW, 5-3-0-1, $531,300. Last Start: 1st GII Rachel Alexandra S. Presented by Fasig-Tipton. Next Start: TBA. KY Oaks Points: 50.

She returned to the work tab last week when breezing four furlongs in :49.00 at the Fair Grounds, where she is under the care of trainer Brad Cox. It was her first work since a surprise win in the GII Rachel Alexandra S. Presented by Fasig-Tipton. It looked like her career was going to be on the grass, but Cox took a shot in the Rachel Alexandra and it paid off. She has turned out to be quite a bargain. She RNA'd for $32,000 at Keeneland November before selling for $50,000 at Keeneland September. Cox is searching for his third Oaks win since he took the race for the first time in 2018 with Monomoy Girl (Tapizar). We'll know more about this filly when she makes her next start, which Cox said will either be in the Ashland or the Fair Grounds Oaks.

8) SHAHAMA (Munnings–Private Feeling, by Belong to Me) 'TDN Rising Star' O-KHK Racing; B-SF Bloodstock LLC (KY); T-Todd Pletcher. Sales History: $425,000 2yo '21 OBSAPR. Lifetime Record: GSW-UAE, $223,670. Last Start: 1st G3 UAE Oaks. Next Start: TBA. KY Oaks Points: 50.

How do the races in Dubai stack up against the major preps in the U.S. for the Kentucky Oaks? We are about to find out. A $425,000 purchase at OBS April, this filly looked unbeatable while running for KHK Racing and trainer Fawzi Nass in Dubai. After she overcame a slow start to take the GIII UAE Oaks her connections decided to send her to Todd Pletcher, with an eye on running in the Kentucky Oaks.

“We're excited about getting her in,” Pletcher said. “I believe the plan will be to come to Florida and prepare for the Oaks. I think we would just train up to the Oaks, but we need to see how she is and how quickly she acclimates before making any firm decisions.”

The original plan was to face males in the GII UAE Derby. In the Pletcher barn, she couldn't be in better hands. It will be interesting to see how she stacks up against the U.S.-based fillies.

9) CLASSY EDITION (Classic Empire–Newbie, by Bernardini) 'TDN Rising Star' O-Robert E & Lawana L Low; B-Chester & Mary R. Broman (KY); T-Todd Pletcher. Sales history: $550,000 2yo '21 FTMMAY. Lifetime Record: MSW & GSP, 4-3-1-0, $223,450. Last Start: 2nd GII Davona Dale S. Next Start: TBA. KY Oaks Points: 20.

Bought for $550,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-old sale, this 'TDN Rising Star' makes it on to the list after finishing second behind Kathleen O. in the one-mile Davona Dale. Though she was soundly beaten, the New York-bred proved she belongs in open, graded company after going 3-for-3 last year versus state breds. It was also her first start beyond seven furlongs.    “I've always felt that ultimately she's a filly that wanted two turns, so hopefully this brings her in that direction,” Pletcher said prior to the Davona Dale.

It looks like she'll have to improve a few lengths to be able to beat the very best of her division, but there's no reason why that can't happen.

10) NOSTALGIC (Medaglia d'Oro–Been Here Before, by Tapit) O/B-Godolphin (KY); T-Bill Mott. Lifetime Record: 4-2-0-0, $97,900. Last Start: 1st Gulfstream Allowance/Optional Claimer. Next Start: GIII Gazelle S., AQU, Apr. 9. KY Oaks Points: 1.

After she began her 3-year-old campaign with a ninth-place showing in the Sweetest Chant S. on the grass, it didn't look at all like this filly was a candidate for the Kentucky Oaks. But that all changed with a Mar. 3 allowance race at Gulfstream. Trainer Bill Mott put her back on the dirt and was rewarded with an impressive 6 3/4-length win in the 8 1/2-furlong contest. It was her second win from four career starts and her first since she broke her maiden on debut in October at Belmont. Just an allowance winner this year, she has some catching up to do, but she's well-bred and in the barn of a Hall of Famer. Don't count her out.

Nostalgic | Ryan Thompson

 

The post TDN Kentucky Oaks Top 10 for Mar. 10 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Firing Line Filly First in Busher

BUSHER INVITATIONAL S., $242,500, Aqueduct, 3-5, 3yo, f, 1m, 1:39.65, ft.
1–VENTI VALENTINE, 118, f, 3, by Firing Line
                1st Dam: Glory Gold, by Medaglia d'Oro
                2nd Dam: Gayla, by Lord Gaylord
                3rd Dam: La Chela (Arg), by Utopico (Arg)
O-NY Final Furlong Racing Stable & Parkland Thoroughbreds;
B-Final Furlong Racing Stable & Maspeth Stable (NY); T-Jorge
Abreu; J-Manuel Franco. $137,500. Lifetime Record:

4-3-1-0, $366,250. *1/2 to Espresso Shot (Mission Impazible),
MSW, $516,625.
2–Shotgun Hottie, 120, f, 3, Gun Runner–Re Entry, by Malibu
Moon. ($45,000 2yo '21 OBSAPR). O-Omar Aldabbagh & Jeff
Ganje; B-Vincent Colbert (KY); T-William E. Morey. $50,000.
3–Magic Circle, 120, f, 3, Kantharos–Magic Humor, by Distorted
Humor. ($50,000 Ylg '20 KEEJAN; $110,000 2yo '21 OBSAPR).
O-J.W. Singer LLC; B-Manitou Farm, LLC (KY); T-Rudy R.
Rodriguez. $30,000.
Margins: 7, 3/4, 3 3/4. Odds: 5.30, 22.90, 4.80.
Also Ran: Radio Days, Sterling Silver. Scratched: Morning Matcha.

Venti Valentine stormed to an authoritative victory in the Busher S. at Aqueduct Saturday. The chestnut filly, sent off at 5-1, tracked the pace early, but was shuffled back in traffic down the backstretch. She ranged up three wide into the final bend and collared pacesetting Magic Circle in upper stretch before storming clear.
“I knew the pace wasn't going to be that fast,” said winning rider Manny Franco. “So I wanted to come out running. I saw Dylan [Davis aboard Radio Days] went with Kendrick [Carmouche aboard Magic Circle] and I was able to go around them, and after that I was comfortable where I was. I was in the middle in the stretch, so I was worried about somebody coming from the outside, but I didn't see anyone. She's a nice filly. She's improving every time she runs.”

Venti Valentine opened her career with a narrow victory over state-bred foes at Belmont last September and added a victory in the Oct. 30 Maid of the Mist S. before suffering the first loss of her career when a neck short of Nest (Curlin) when second in the Dec. 4 GII Demoiselle S.

“I was a little concerned about her because we missed two breezes with her,” admitted winning trainer Jorge Abreu. “She got sick on me after we breezed her the first time. She spiked a temperate of 102 and I didn't breeze her. She really came into the race with four breezes.

Abreu continued, “I knew this filly was going to run a good race. I'm not going to lie, I didn't know she was going to win that easy. She ran a really good race. She's been a classy horse since Day One. She's been showing that she has a lot of determination and a lot of talent. She showed it today.”

Venti Valentine is one of two stakes winners for Firing Line, who has also been represented by Bowman's Mill S. winner and GII Saratoga Special third-place finisher Nakatomi.

Glory Gold, who was purchased by Final Furlong Racing for $13,000 while carrying the winner at the 2018 Keeneland Noveber sale, produced a filly by Omaha Beach last year. The filly sold for $220,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton Fall Mixed Sale. The mare was bred back to Authentic. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

The post Firing Line Filly First in Busher appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights