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.
