Aqueduct roundup: Shidabhuti wins Kentucky Oaks prep

Shidabhuti stalked a moderate tempo and launched adevastating late kick in deep stretch to conquer her stakes debut Saturday inthe $200,000 Busher for sophomore fillies going a one-turn mile at Aqueduct.

Shidabhuti, by Practical Joke, earned 50 qualifying pointstowards Kentucky Oaks (G1) on May 5 at Churchill Downs in capturing the Busher,the penultimate local qualifier. She entered off two victories in as manystarts, the most recent being a two-length win in a local allowance Jan. 22going the Busher distance. She broke her maiden in September going six furlongsat Monmouth Park.

Piloted by Dylan Davis from post 5, Shidabhuti maintainedher outside position while fellow Chad Brown trainee Asset Purchase, the 4-5post time favorite, did battle with Ziaerati on the front end through anopening quarter-mile in 23.54 and a half-mile in 47.75 seconds over the muddyand sealed main track.

Around the far turn Asset Purchase established a clearadvantage with Trevor McCarthy going all out aboard Ziaerati. Asset Purchaselengthened to a two-length lead at the stretch call under Manny Franco, butShidabhuti loomed large on the far outside and collared her stablemate in thefinal strides to win by two lengths and stop the clock at 1:39.03.

“My thought was to be forwardly placed,” Davis said. “Ithought there was going to be more speed. I’m happy with where I was at, but wegot some early pressure around the half-mile pole, and she didn’t really likeit too much. I just let her get a feel for it, and she got some rhythm at thethree-eighths pole, and she really started extending at the eighth pole. I waskeeping her to task. Just like her last race, it took her a while to getrunning and to build that momentum up to where she was able to finish it off.Again today I had to ride her a little early, but once we straightened up againaround the eighth pole, she found her stride again. I thought she handled thistrack pretty well.”

Davis, who also piloted Shidabhuti to her last out score,said the filly improved out of her last race.

“She felt a lot stronger today. She finished a lotstronger,” Davis said. “She was a little green last time and a little spotty,but today she was a little more focused.”

Owned by Peter Brant, Asset Purchase finished 1 1/4 lengthsto the better of Capella, who launched an inside rally to finish third.Ziaerati, La Vita Sofia and Check Engine Light rounded out the finish in thatorder.

Shidabhuti, who returned $12.60 for a $2 win wager, providedBrown with his second Busher victory after he sent out Search Results to a winin 2021.

“Dylan used good judgment on Shidabhuti to stay close, andthey weren’t going really fast,” Brown said. “He put her in the clear in thestretch, and he timed it just right. With Asset Purchase, I thought she ranwell, but in hindsight maybe Manny should have allowed her to run a little moreearly and open up a little. He kept her restrained and kept the rest of thefield in the race, but she still gave a good effort.

“(Shidabhuti) is just a horse who is improving, and I knowher numbers didn’t look that fast going into the race, but now she’s won allthree of her starts, so it’s hard to fault her. She has continued to improve,and she should continue to improve with distance.”

Brown said Shidabhuti “probably” would target the Gazelle(G3), the final local Kentucky Oaks qualifier April 8. It will award the top fivefinishers 100-40-30-20-10 points.

Bred in Kentucky by Gabriel Duignan and Gerry Dilger,Shidabhuti (pronounced “she’d a beauty”) is out of the Candy Ride mare A.P.Candy and was a $310,000 purchase at the 2021 Keeneland September yearling sale.Her third dam is multiple Grade 1-winning millionaire Dream Supreme, whoproduced Grade 1-winner and producer Majestic Warrior.