Dr. Venkman will focus on races from seven furlongs to a mile in 2026
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Dr. Venkman, third in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at six furlongs at Del Mar on Nov. 1, will have a 2026 campaign focused on longer sprints and one-turn mile races.
In the immediate future, Dr. Venkman will not do much, trainer Mark Glatt said on Thursday.
“We’ll give him a little bit of a break and gear him up for the spring,” Glatt said.
Dr. Venkman will be considered for races such as the Grade 1 Churchill Downs Stakes at seven furlongs on May 2, part of the undercard of the Kentucky Derby program.
“We’re going to try and zero on some of these seven-furlong and one-turn mile races,” Glatt said. “We’ll look at the race on Derby weekend as a spot.”
A 5-year-old gelding, Dr. Venkman has won 4 of 12 starts and earned $881,300. Owned by the partnership of Alipony Racing, Dan Agnew, Clint Bunch, and James Hailey, Dr Venkman was third at 39-1 in the BC Sprint, losing by 2 1/4 lengths to Bentornato.
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Dr. Venkman closed from eighth of 14, and finished a nose behind second-place finisher Imagination.
“I was really happy with it,” Glatt said of Dr. Venkman’s BC Sprint performance.
“He really ran well. With one more jump he would have been second. He ran into a tough horse with the winner. The track wasn’t playing toward his style. Very few horses closed, if any, and beat the speed-favoring bias.”
Through Thursday, Glatt’s stable had 68 wins with earnings of $4,594,565 this year. Glatt set a personal best of $4,911,172 in earnings in 2023.
On Saturday at Del Mar, Glatt has two runners – the 2-year-old colts Essos and So Happy in a maiden race at 6 1/2 furlongs. They are part of a field of 10 led by Blacksmith, a colt trained by Bob Baffert who finished a game second in his debut in a maiden race at Santa Anita on Oct. 25.
Essos, by Liam’s Map, was purchased for $475,000 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s 2-year-olds in training sale in April and races for Hans and Ana Maron’s Saints or Sinners stable and Agnew.
Essos drew the inside post and will be ridden by Antonio Fresu.
“Essos didn’t get any favors with the post draw,” Glatt said.
So Happy, owned by the Marons and Norman Stables, is by Runhappy and starts from post 8. Mike Smith has the mount on So Happy, who was purchased for $150,000 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s March sale.
Essos and So Happy had quick workouts from the gate at Santa Anita earlier this month.
“Both have trained very well going into their debuts,” Glatt said. “We think both horses have some talent.”
At the same time, Glatt acknowledges that a runner like Blacksmith, who will be a strong favorite, has an edge with experience, especially with recent training at Southern California tracks disrupted by wet weather.
“I think it’s fair to say the training conditions in the past week or so have been challenging,” Glatt said. “One can say everyone is in the same boat. However, horses that have had a start have an advantage in these 2-year-old races.”
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