Sweet Seventeen, who
missed scoring her first stakes victory by a neck in last month’s
Busanda, returns to Aqueduct Racetrack for another attempt Saturday afternoon
when she heads a field of seven 3-year-old fillies in the $75,000 Busher.
Trained by H. Graham Motion for Mrs. John Oxley, Sweet Seventeen set
the pace as the favorite in the one-mile, 70-yard Busanda on January 7 but was
caught in the late stages by Captivating Lass.
“She’s been slow switching leads, and I think it cost her
the last race,” said Motion of the bay daughter of Hard Spun.
“She’s improved the last three or four weeks, however. I toyed with
the idea of shipping her to Florida
and running on grass because she ran so well on the synthetic, but thought this
was the more frugal route. We can try grass down the road.”
The homebred filly broke her maiden at first asking at Laurel Park in
September, and next posted an impressive 4 ¾-length allowance win over the
synthetic surface at Keeneland on October 11. She wrapped up her juvenile
campaign by rallying from far back to finish second in the Glorious Song at
Woodbine a month later.
“I’ve been very pleased with her,” said Motion.
“Her races have been pretty well spaced out, and she’s done well
since she’s been up here. She’s very honest and game.”
Sweet Seventeen, the 8-5 favorite, drew the rail with Alan Garcia aboard
for the first time.
WinStar Farm’s entry of Lisa T. and Off Limits is the 2-1 second
choice in the 1 1/16-mile Busher, with Lisa T. drawing post position 3 under
Cornelio Velazquez and Off Limits post position 4 with Junior Alvarado in the
irons.
Trained by Todd Pletcher, Lisa T. has made two tours of the Big
A’s inner track, breaking her maiden going one mile, 70 yards on December
11 in her third start and finishing third behind Singlet in the six-furlong
Dearly Precious earlier this month. Off Limits, from Hall of Fame trainer Bill
Mott’s barn, will be making her stakes debut after finishing fourth in an
optional claimer at Gulfstream
Park on February 1.
Darley Stable’s Better Lucky is stretching out off a pair of
inner-track sprints, having broken her maiden on December 11 and finishing a
non-threatening fifth in the Ruthless behind Agave Kiss on January 14. Eddie
Castro has the mount aboard the Ghostzapper filly, who drew post position 5 at
4-1.
Rounding out the field is Plum, who closed out her juvenile campaign
with three straight triumphs at Laurel Park, including the Maryland Juvenile
Fillies Championship; Super Quiet, another Mid-Atlantic invader who will be
making her fourth start of the year and first in a stakes, and Marvelous
Margaret, who was supplemented to the race and enters the Busher off a
hard-fought maiden victory on January 25.
The field for the $75,000 Busher:
|
Prog. # PP
|
Horse
|
Jockey
|
Wgt
|
Trainer
|
Odds
|
|
1
3
|
Lisa
T.
|
C Velasquez
|
116
|
T A Pletcher
|
2-1
|
|
1a
4
|
Off
Limits
|
J Alvarado
|
116
|
W I Mott
|
2-1
|
|
2
1
|
Sweet
Seventeen
|
A Garcia
|
116
|
H. Graham Motion
|
8-5
|
|
3
2
|
Marvelous
Margaret
|
R Curatolo
|
116
|
C Martin
|
12-1
|
|
4
5
|
Better
Lucky
|
E Castro
|
116
|
T Albertrani
|
4-1
|
|
5 6
|
Plum
|
T L Dunkelberger
|
120
|
R Jenkins
|
6-1
|
|
6
7
|
Super
Quiet
|
G R Delgado
|
118
|
G A Wood, II
|
15-1
|
1 and 1a-coupled
|