When Dr. Venkman drew inside yet again, this time for the Aug. 23 Pat O’Brien Stakes (G2) at Del Mar, trainer Mark Glatt wasn’t happy. But as the race unfolded, Dr. Venkman found a big hole on the rail and gamely shot through for the victory.
Dr. Venkman is by Ghostzapper, and his name harkens back to the character Dr. Peter Venkman, played by Bill Murray in the original “Ghostbusters” film. The Ghostzapper Syndicate and Hidden Brook Farm bred Dr. Venkman in Kentucky. He was foaled and raised at Hidden Brook farm and was sold by Hidden Brook for $105,000 at the 2021 Keeneland September Yearling Sale to trainer Mark Glatt as agent.
Hidden Brook bred Dr. Venkman’s dam, the Archarcharch mare Theory of Change, a winner in one of her two starts. A half sister to stakes winners So Long George, America America, and My Gal Betty, Theory of Change has also produced stakes-winning Tranche, by Collected. Hidden Brook will consign the mare’s yearling colt by Maxfield in Book 1 of this year’s Keeneland September sale.
A Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series event, the seven-furlong O’Brien offered a Win & You’re In berth to the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1), and the race drew a field of runners specializing in a wide variety of distances.
Dr. Venkman found himself stuck behind the Baffert duo with Stronghold just outside of him. Jockey Umberto Rispoli played a waiting game with Dr. Venkman, however, and it paid off handsomely. As the leaders came around the turn into the stretch, Speed Boat Beach drifted out, opening up a hole that Glatt later admitted “you could have driven a truck through.”
Dr. Venkman didn’t hesitate, flying through the opening to take command as Speed Boat Beach faded. Dr. Venkman and Rispoli defeated Stronghold and jockey Antonio Fresu by a half-length in 1:21.53, with Express Train third, followed by Maymun and Speed Boat Beach.
Fresu had been regularly riding both Dr. Venkman and Stronghold. He elected to stick with Stronghold, the 2024 Santa Anita Derby (G1) winner making his first start since popping a splint when 10th in the Jan. 25 Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1). Rispoli took over on Dr. Venkman, piloting the 5-year-old gelding for the first time in a race.
“Umberto rode a very, very patient ride, and when it opened up, he was able to get through,” Glatt said. “When (Dr. Venkman) made the lead, he kind of started to pull himself up a little bit, so it made me a little anxious there late.”
Rispoli called Dr. Venkman a smart horse and a fighter.
“He knows how to run his races,” the jockey said. “I just kept him on the fence, just looking ahead of me, looking to see a horse on the rail. No one wanted to be there, so at that point I saw that was going to be my gap.”
Glatt trains Dr. Venkman for the partnership of Alipony Racing, Dan Agnew, Clint Bunch, and James Hailey. Dr. Venkman has won four of 10 lifetime starts, including the 2024 San Diego Handicap (G2), and he has run second in four other stakes.
