Spendarella improves to 2-for-2 in Herecomesthebride

By Tom Law

Spendarella showed up in one of Graham Motion’s springtime outposts last year and the recent Hall of Fame-nominated trainer and his team immediately liked what they saw.

“She always showed plenty of promise, we just had to give her more time,” Motion said. She came to me last spring at Keeneland actually, but she just needed more time over the summer.”

Spendarella needed the spring, summer, fall and some of the winter. She didn’t debut until early February, but made quick work of a field of an open-company maiden field going two turns on the grass at Gulfstream Park. The daughter of Karakontie did the same Saturday, closing Gulfstream’s rich Fountain of Youth Day card with a dominating front-running victory in the Grade 3 Herecomesthebride Stakes. Sent off as the 8-5 favorite off her flashy maiden score, Spendarella ran to her odds with a 1 1/2-length victory over third choice Opalina with second choice Mischievous Kiss third in the field of 11.

“She’s always been a nice filly, and she just keeps growing and getting more intelligent about the job,” said Alice Clapham, Motion’s Florida-based assistant. “She seems to know what life’s about. The first race really kind of helped her grow up.”

Bred Antony Beck’s Gainesway Thoroughbreds LTD, foaled at Sequel Stallions NY in Hudson and raced in Beck’s brown and white Gainesway Stable colors, Spendarella and jockey Jose Ortiz went to the front of the 1-mile Herecomesthebride on the firm ground.

Spendarella dictated the terms throughout, first maintaining a 1-length advantage over Dia de Sol through the opening three-quarters of a mile before shrugging off that foe around the far turn. Spendarella opened up approaching the stretch and was 3 lengths clear at the eighth pole as the closers started to wind up.

Mischievous Kiss, who rated well back in third most of the trip, went after the leader first before being overtaken by Opalina. The latter cut into the winner’s margin slightly in the stretch but was a clear second best, 1 ½ lengths clear of Mischievous Kiss in third with Last Leaf fourth. Spendarella won in 1:34.38.

“She broke well. Much better than the first time,” said Ortiz, who rode Spendarella in her 2 3/4-length win going 1 1/16 miles on the grass Feb. 2.

Offered late in the 2020 Keeneland September yearling sale as Hip 3161[2], Spendarella was reported sold for $220,000 to Ballyfair Bloodstock out of the Gainesway consignment. She’s out of the winning Unusual Heat mare Spanish Bunny, the dam of Grade 1 American Oaks and Grade 2 Honeymoon winner Spanish Queen.

“Mark Casse trained her full sister, so she had some credentials already, and it looked like she was a two-turn type,” Motion said.

Before the Herecomesthebride Motion said Spendarella could show up in her native state and Clapham echoed that sentiment after the filly’s victory worth $72,850.

“She’s a New York-bred, so she’ll most probably head up there, at some point,” Clapham said. “She’ll let us tell us where she wants to run.”

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2022/03/05/spendarella-improves-to-2-for-2-in-herecomesthebride/

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Venti Valentine storms to victory in Busher

By Tom Law

Venti Valentine returned to her native New York in late February and by early March she and her connections found themselves on the road to the Kentucky Oaks.

The daughter of Firing Line all but locked up her spot in the field for the May 6 Oaks at Churchill Downs with a dominating 7-length victory in Saturday’s $250,000 Busher Invitational Stakes at Aqueduct. Off since her close second in the Grade 2 Demoiselle in early December at Aqueduct, Venti Valentine earned 50 points toward a spot in the Oaks field and added to her bankroll for trainer Jorge Abreu and owners NY Final Furlong Racing and Parkland Thoroughbreds.

Manny Franco rode the chestnut filly for the first time in the afternoon and came away impressed.

“She’s a nice filly. She’s improving every time she runs,” Franco said. “I worked her last time and she went a half-mile, so I got to know her. She was ready for the race.”

Venti Valentine started her career with an overland come-from-behind victory in a 6-furlong New York-bred maiden in late September at Belmont before returning a month later to win the $242,500 Maid of the Mist Stakes on a sloppy track on Empire Showcase Day. She earned a trip to open company after that victory and finished second, beaten only a neck by recent Suncoast Stakes and Kentucky Oaks contender Nest, in the 9-furlong Demoiselle.

Abreu shipped Venti Valentine south to his wintertime base at Palm Meadows Training Center after the Demoiselle. She breezed four times over the Palm Meadows main track, including a 5-furlong work in 1:02.45 Feb. 11 before returning to New York. She breezed once more, a half in :49.87 on the Belmont training track, Sunday to tighten up for the 1-mile Busher.

The weeks and days leading up to the Busher didn’t come without some hesitation.

“I was a little concerned about her because we missed two breezes with her,” Abreu said. “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. Irad [Ortiz, Jr.] breezed her three times over the five-eighths or three-quarters [at Palm Meadows] and he was pretty happy with her. I had Manny breeze her here and she breezed well over the training track.”

Sent off the 5-1 fourth choice in the field of five, Venti Valentine raced fourth early while Magic Circle and Radio Days sparred through the opening quarter-mile in :24.23. Franco inched Venti Valentine up to third approaching the half in :48.19 as Magic Circle continued to lead by a half-length from 1-2 favorite Radio Days.

Franco gave Venti Valentine her cue midway around the turn and she responded, circling past the two leaders and took the lead in the stretch. She opened up in a snap, leading by 2 lengths in midstretch before pouring it on late to win in 1:39.65. Shotgun Hottie, the longest shot on the board 22-1, passed the tiring front runners for the runner-up spot with Magic Circle third, Radio Days fourth and Sterling Silver fifth.

“I know this filly was going to run a good race,” Abreu said. “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 1. She’s been showing that she has a lot of determination and a lot of talent. She showed it today.”

Bred by Final Furlong Racing Stable and Maspeth Stable and foaled at Schuylerville Thoroughbred Farm in Schuylerville, Venti Valentine is the second stakes winner produced by Glory Gold along with Espresso Shot. Venti Valentine’s connections also campaigned Espresso Shot, a multiple stakes winner of $516,625 who sold for $300,000 to Spendthrift Farm at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November mixed sale.

Final Furlong Racing purchased Espresso Shot for $69,000 at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale. A year later they bought Glory Gold, carrying Venti Valentine in utero, for $13,000 at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale. She’s produced four winners.

“This is a better horse than Espresso Shot,” Abreu said. “Not for nothing, but she just shows more determination than Espresso Shot. Espresso Shot looked like she loved Aqueduct and her distance was limited. This filly – the farther she goes, the better she’ll be.”

Abreu said the Grade 3 Gazelle April 9 at Aqueduct, which offers 100 points to the winner toward a spot in the Kentucky Oaks field, would be Venti Valentine’s next start. Venti Valentine earned $137,500 for the Busher win to boost her earnings to $366,250.

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2022/03/05/venti-valentine-storms-to-victory-in-busher/

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