Dr. Venkman eyes path to Malibu try
?q=100)
DEL MAR, Calif. — It’s never too early to start thinking about Christmas. Or, in the case of the undefeated colt, Dr. Venkman, a start in a major race on the day after Christmas.
Dr. Venkman won his second start in an allowance race at seven furlongs at Del Mar last Saturday at 2-5, closing from third before drawing away by an impressive 5 1/2 lengths.
The victory has trainer Mark Glatt and the partnership that owns the colt – Dan Agnew, Clint Bunch, James Hailey, and Philip Wood – hoping to run in the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs at Santa Anita on Dec. 26.
How Dr. Venkman is raced in the interim remains to be determined.
“We’ll circle the Malibu and find a path that takes us to that,” Glatt said.
In Saturday’s race, Dr. Venkman led by a length with a furlong remaining and finished strongly.
“The way he sprints, I don’t think he has any distance limitations,” Glatt said. “He relaxes and doesn’t get keen. Going seven-eighths, his strongest part of the race was the last sixteenth of a mile.”
Dr. Venkman won his debut in a maiden race at 6 1/2 furlongs by 5 1/4 lengths on July 21.
“Not too many horses win their first two starts like that,” Glatt said.
By Ghostzapper, Dr. Venkman is named for Bill Murray’s character in the 1984 comedy “Ghostbusters.”
Glatt has a leading contender in Saturday’s Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante for 2-year-old fillies at seven furlongs with Chatalas, the smart winner of a maiden race at 5 1/2 furlongs on July 30 in her debut.
Racing officials projected on Wednesday that the $300,000 Debutante will have 14 entries, which could be the largest field since that many fillies started in 1968.
The 2022 running had seven runners. The race has not had a double-digit field since 10 ran in 2015.
Steve Schuelein passes
Funeral services were held Tuesday in Los Angeles for Steve Schuelein, a correspondent for Daily Racing Form in the early 1990s who died on Aug. 29.
Schuelein was 77.
A native of New York City, Schuelein was a fixture in Southern California racing media from his arrival from New York in 1982 until his retirement in the early 2010s.
Schuelein worked in publicity at Hollywood Park and Santa Anita and wrote for numerous publications, including Racing Times, California Thoroughbred, the Los Angeles Times, harness racing magazines, and Thoroughbred Times.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.