Edited from track notes
Trainer Dennis Manning was still accepting congratulations on the Monmouth backstretch Wednesday morning for Valid Video's stirring victory in Saturday's $200,000 King's Bishop Stakes (gr. I) at Saratoga.With Joe Bravo in the irons, the 3-year-old gelding by Valid Wager, altered course in deep stretch and got up to win by a neck. This was the first grade I victory for both owner Mac Fehsenfeld and Manning, and the third for Bravo, Monmouth's leading rider. Now there's another grade I in the horse's future--the Breeders' Cup Sprint on Oct. 25 at Santa Anita. Valid Video was listed at 12-1 in the first Breeders' Cup Futures bet for the six-furlong event. "That's his next start," Manning said. "He had a hard race Saturday, and I want to give him a break. The timing's not right to get another race into him before the Breeders' Cup. I'll train him up to the race. If I can't do that right, I'm not much of a trainer." Manning was thrilled about winning a grade I after nearly 30 years as a trainer. "It's not about the money," he said. "It's the recognition I get from my peers. I don't get a lot of chances to race in grade I stakes.""We don't pay a lot for our horses (Valid Video cost $29,000 at an Ocala sale), so we don't have the really well-bred horses that compete at that level on a regular basis. But now I'm going back to the Breeders' Cup. I was there in 1991 with Snappy Landing, and we ran third to Arazi in the Juvenile. I'm looking forward to October." Joe Bravo, who is heading toward a record ninth riding title at Monmouth, will stick with Valid Video on his journey. The 31-year-old rider scored his first grade I victory aboard Formal Gold in the 1997 Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park, and his second aboard Pearl City in the 1997 Ballerina Stakes at Saratoga.
Valid Video, winning the King's Bishop.
