Dazzling Dame impresses in the Busanda, NYRA Photo
Maria Eddy
Respect the Valleys’ Brilliant lady eased four rivals to an emphatic 11 1/2-length victory in Saturday’s $150,000 Busanda, a one-turn mile for sophomore fillies, at Aqueduct Racetrack. The Busanda, previously contested at nine furlongs, offered 20-10-6-4-2 Kentucky Oaks qualifying points to the top five finishers, respectively.
Trained by Brittany Russell, the daughter of Girvin entered after a 1 1/2-length win at Delaware Park’s two-turn mile White Clay Creek on Oct. 11 with two starts after earning her first stakes win at Monmouth Park’s Sorority in August. Those efforts surrounded a fourth-place finish in the one-turn mile Grade 3 Pocahontas in September at Churchill Downs, where she earned two Kentucky Oaks points in the event won by Taken by the Wind.
Russell, based in Maryland, said Dazzling Dame felt more comfortable shipping to the Big A than heading to Louisville for the Pocahontas.
“When she fled Churchill, I feel like she never settled down and did things the way you would want her to,” Russell said. “It’s a different story – two turns coming out of the Delaware race, it’s a long run around the back – and for such a free-running horse I just wasn’t sure how she would handle it. She was great [today]. Today was much better. It’s a little closer than Kentucky.”
In the Busanda, Dazzling Dame broke out from post 4-of-5 under Jevian Toledo, but quickly recovered to set the pace with post-time favorite Credible she stayed close to her outside through the first quarter mile in 23.55 seconds on the fast foot.
“To be honest, she always breaks forward,” said Toledo, who last piloted the filly in the two-turn Sorority. “She likes to be there. I was a bit worried because no one stayed in the lead all day. But she is a nice filly, she has proven that she belongs in these types of races. Everything went well.”
A trio of rivals followed the top pair down the backstretch, with Dazzling Dame leading the way before putting some distance between her and Believable as they approached the turn. The half-mile passed in 47.20 and the Jaime Rodriguez-driven Two Bits put in a strong ride to pass Believable in the three-path and set her sights on the free-running Dazzling Dame in the turn.
“I have the outside horse [Believable] putting a little pressure on,” Toledo said. “As soon as we got into the corner, I opened up to them a little bit and my filly relaxed a little bit. I think that was the key.”
The race was almost over when Dazzling Dame widened the gap between her and her Two bits up to seven lengths, up to three-quarters in 1:12.75. She increased her margin with every step to win, rounding out a final time of 1:38.30, more than 3/5 of a second faster than second-year stallion My World when she previously won the $150,000 Jerome one-mile on the Big A card [1:38.96].
Two Bits completed the exacta by 11 1/4 lengths over Believable. Midnite Ginny And Britain rounded out the order of finish while favorite Shilling was scratched in the morning due to a small scratch on her leg that had become infected, according to trainer Ken McPeek.
Russell, who finished second with Balboa in the aforementioned Jerome, said Dazzling Dame is naturally talented.
“That was really fun. She’s a really good workhorse in the mornings,” Russell said. “I know it looks like 49s at the bottom of the page, but she just does things very easily. It seems like she’s made progress, and a big, nice filly, does things well. Hopefully keep her healthy.”
Future East Coast stops on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks include the nine-furlong Grade 3 Gazelle [100-50-25-15-10 points] on April 4 here or the 1 1/16 mile Virginia Oaks [50-25-15-10-5 points] on March 14 at Colonial Downs. Both races would be the furthest of Dazzling Dame’s career, and Russell said more distance is a logical next step.
“I think we’d be foolish not to try,” Russell said. “There is also a colonial approach. It could be interesting for us where we are now. We keep all options on the table.”
Rodriguez, aboard the Amelia Green-trained Two Bits, said his filly would likely have benefited from a faster pace.
“She ran well. I thought there would be a little more pace,” Rodriguez said. “The winner, she went a bit alone at the beginning. Really, no one put that much pressure on her. I had to move my horse a little earlier than I wanted, but she made a huge run. She made wonderful progress. Everyone is happy. That’s what matters.”
Dazzling Dame, bred in Maryland by Maria M. Haire, was purchased for $45,000 at the OBS March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale and is out of the multi-stakes Corinthian mare Awesome Dama. She earned $82,500 in wins while improving her lifetime record to 5-4-0-0 and returning $6.24 on a $2 winning ticket.
Live racing resumes on Sunday at Aqueduct Racetrack with an eight-race card. First post is 12:40 Eastern.
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