Venti Valentine will remain on Oaks trail after Busher win

Venti Valentine earned a 94 Beyer Speed Figure for her dominating win in Saturday’s $250,000 Busher Invitational at Aqueduct, a one-turn mile for sophomore fillies that awarded 50-20-10-5 Kentucky Oaks qualifying to the top four finishers.

Piloted by Manny Franco, the New York homebred daughter of Firing Line stalked the pace set by Busanda winner Magic Circle before taking command at the top of the stretch, drawing away to a seven-length victory in a final time of 1:39.65.

Owned by NY Final Furlong Racing Stable and Parklans Thoroughbreds, Venti Valentine is the second Busher winner for trainer Jorge Abreu, who also conditioned her half-sister, Espresso Shot, to win the 2019 edition for the same owners along with Maspeth Stables.

Dan Zanatta, who manages NY Final Furlong Racing Stable with Vince Roth, said the win was meaningful to his partnership, as Venti Valentine now is in second place on the Kentucky Oaks leaderboard with 54 points.

“The three-race plan was the Busher, the Gazelle and the Kentucky Oaks. Step one is complete,” Zanatta said.

Zanatta was part of a large contingent celebrating the victory in the Aqueduct winner’s circle Saturday.

“We’re big on family and friends and anything to make this sport better,” Zanatta said. “Just to see people cheering and enjoying a race on a semi-gloomy Saturday afternoon makes us really happy.”

Roth said he is hopeful Venti Valentine will continue to improve with distance.

“We think she’ll handle two turns better than she handled today, so it’s onward,” said Roth.

Abreu said he appreciates the opportunity to train for Venti Valentine’s owners.

“I was looking at the replay and thought she ran really impressively,” Abreu said. “The owners are great. They’re a great group who gets very excited because they’ve never had a horse like this before. It’s been a good run with them.”

Venti Valentine’s Busher win came on the heels of a close second-place effort to next-out Suncoast winner Nest in the Demoiselle (G2) at Aqueduct on Dec. 4. Piloted by Hall of Famer John Velazquez, Venti Valentine was beaten just a neck in her graded-stakes debut.

“I thought I was going to win that race,” said Abreu of the bay filly’s Demoiselle effort. “Manny was on (Magic Circle) that day and she kind of spooked and that stopped (Venti Valentine’s) momentum. Johnny said that if she didn’t have that problem, she probably would have beaten Nest that day.”

Abreu said that Venti Valentine will point to a start in the nine-furlong $250,000 Gazelle (G3) on April 9 at the Big A, which awards 100-40-20-10 Kentucky Oaks qualifying points to the top four finishers.

“We’ll target the Gazelle and if everything goes good there, she’ll be on her way to Churchill Downs,” said Abreu. “We’ll play it by ear and see how things turn out. Right now, we’re just enjoying the moment.”

Abreu will try for another Aqueduct stakes win next Sunday when Agility returns in the $100,000 Damon Runyon for state-bred sophomores sprinting seven furlongs.

The son of Practical Joke made his stakes debut last time out in the 6 1/2-furlong Rego Park, finishing second to the undefeated Barese while holding on to place honors by a neck over multiple stakes-placed Daufuskie Island.

After the Rego Park, Agility was given a short rest and spent a month at Palm Meadows Training Center in Boynton Beach, Florida before returning to Belmont Park to breeze four furlongs in 49.22 seconds over the dirt training track on March 2.

“He came out of that race really well,” Abreu said. “I took him to Florida for a little while to give him a refresher and I worked him pretty good here with Dylan (Davis). Dylan is going to ride him. He breezed really well and I’m going to breeze him one more time. Hopefully he’ll get it done.”

Lightly raced Star Devine, who has been on the bench since a gutsy win in the Galway at Saratoga Race Course on Aug. 15, will be making her return to the races within the next month after she resumed training again at Palm Meadows in February.

The bay Irish-bred daughter of Fastnet Rock was a debut winner at the Big A last April before a fourth in the Soaring Softly (G3) and a third in an allowance en route to her Galway win.

“She came out of that race good but she’s one of those horses that’s weird. She can run and then come back and not act the same,” Abreu said. “So we gave her some time off and she’s filled out really nice. I may run her at Keeneland on April 16 or (at Aqueduct) on April 1.”

Abreu also recently welcomed back graded stakes-placed Shawdyshawdyshawdy to Belmont to prepare for his first start since September. The 4-year-old Summer Front gelding picked up graded black type when he finished third in the Pennine Ridge (G3) at Belmont in May.

“We gave him time off because he had a tough campaign and got a little tired, so we sent him to the farm,” said Abreu. “He grew and is doing a lot better – he’s much more mature this year.”

Abreu also conditions Jabberwock, a promising 3-year-old half-sister to Shawdyshawdyshawdy who ran fourth on debut over a sloppy and sealed Aqueduct track on Feb. 25 with Dylan Davis up.

“I thought she didn’t run a bad race," Abreu said. "The track was sealed and Dylan came back and told me he didn’t want to (push) her because she wasn’t in love with the track. I’d rather him do that because there’s always another day. She seemed pretty mature and she ran better than I thought she was going to run.”

Abreu said he is looking forward to the debut of the 3-year-old Fastnet Rock filly Libretto on Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs. The dark bay breezed a half-mile from the gate in 49.05 at Palm Meadows on March 5.

“She’s running on Saturday in a maiden race and she’s pretty nice,” said Abreu. “We’re hoping she turns out to be a really nice horse.”

Stakes winning New York-bred filly Runaway Rumour will return from a four-month layoff in Saturday’s Hillsborough (G2) at Tampa Bay Downs for owner Lawrence Goichman. The daughter of Flintshire won the Wild Applause at Belmont last year and closed out her sophomore season with a game fifth in the Winter Memories at Aqueduct.

“I think she was just looking for a little rest,” Abreu said of her last effort. “She had a hard campaign as a 3-year-old and every time she ran, she showed up. After that, we just shut her off and sent her to the farm for 45 days. We brought her back and she’s doing great in Florida.”

Abreu also noted that Goichman’s multiple stakes-winning mare Myhartblongstodady has been retired from racing and likely will be bred to Essential Quality this spring. The daughter of Scat Daddy closed out her four-season career with a win in the John Hettinger at Belmont on Oct. 1.