Busher Stakes Picks

The road to the Kentucky Oaks continues at our home base this weekend as we gear up for the Busanda Stakes at Aqueduct. This field drew very competitively and I believe that it is a wide-open betting race. Your first and second choice on the morning line are two fillies coming out of the Busanda Stakes on January 18th, which was a day that we saw an extreme speed bias. The #9 Sharp Smile (3-1) comes into this as your morning line favorite after finishing third ahead of Ramify last time out. She broke her maiden over an off-track in her third start and looks to get back to the winner’s circle on Saturday. She is a play against for me as I don’t believe that she possesses the same speed as some others in here to help her sit the type of trip she needs. She broke her maiden after sitting right off the leader and pulling away to win by ¾ of a length, which is the only time we have seen her pass a horse. This filly has some talent and expectations, and I put her at 4th as I can still see her taking a piece, but I would like to see her improve before I’m ready to take her on top at a short price.

My top pick is the #2 Ramify (7/2), a Chad Brown trainee who was impressive on debut when she broke poorly, trailed 13 lengths off the leader, started picking up runners around the turn, and came four wide to get the win over My Sherrona. It’s notable that My Sherrona, although a maiden, has run against decent company in all three of her starts. Ramify proved best in her debut and did not discourage me with her performance in the Busanda as she broke in 5th and was heavily up against the track that day. Javier Castellano is skipping Fountain of Youth Day at Gulfstream to fly in and take the mount for Juddmonte and Chad Brown on Ramify, as well as my top choice in the Gotham (G3), Garamond. Ramify comes from a deep and classy Juddmonte family, and her 2nd dam, Sightseek, is a 7X Grade 1 winner. Please don’t think I use this information in my handicapping, but it’s very cool that Javier Castellano also piloted Ramify’s second dam, Sightseek, for the last start of her career where she won the Beldame (G1) at Belmont Park.

Most importantly, I landed on her as I see her coming from off the pace to track down your front runners. The #1 Liam in the Dust (9/2) is likely to get the lead here and has been battle-tested in every start as she has never been in a race that did not include one of the early Oaks favorites. She’s been up against the likes of Muhimma, La Cara, Quietside, Quickick, and Ballerina d’Oro, to name a few. She broke her maiden in gate-to-wire fashion and has been a competitive presence since as either the pace setter or the main pace pressure, and last time out she weakened going 1 1/8 in the Demoiselle (G2). Now she is going to cut back to the one-turn mile, and I believe this is the perfect spot for her. She also gets blinkers added, and trainer Rodolphe Brisset is 6 for 23 (26%) over the last 5 years with 3-year-olds getting blinkers for the first time on the dirt, compared to his overall win rate of 18%. At 9/2 on the morning line, she might present the best value in here come post time.

Another runner I see playing a major role in here and potentially presenting good value come post-time is the #3 Drexel Hill (6-1). The Whit Beckman trainee started her career off at Woodbine and romped in her fourth start before joining this barn and debuting at Fair Grounds. She had a troubled trip in her first attempt there, and she just missed 2nd last time out in the Silverbulletday Stakes. It’s notable that she was the only horse to apply pace pressure to Simply Joking and earned an 82 Beyer Speed Figure for that effort, which is the highest in this field. Now she gets the blinkers taken back off after running with them for the first time that day, and Whit Beckman has had plenty of success making that same move.

Do you see Liam in the Dust being able to take them all the way here? The #4 Volleyballprincess and the #7 Nilo’s Rose may not be as fast, and I don’t see them even hitting the board, but they can make Liam in the Dust’s job a bit more difficult. Although her and Drexel Hill are likely to present some value come post-time, I landed on the #2 Ramify as my top choice as I see her coming from off the pace to track down these frontrunners, and she sure impressed me on debut.