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.
"He doesn't like the inside," Glatt said. "I'm glad he kind of redeemed himself because we thought he should have maybe won his last couple of races."
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.
Three of the longer shots on the morning line—Awesome Rhythm, Tapalo, and Man O Rose—were scratched. That left six in the race, and once they were loaded into the gate, Stronghold and Spirit of Makena broke through, delaying the start. Stronghold and Spirit of Makena were reloaded after being examined, and when the gate opened, 7-5 favorite Speed Boat Beach took the lead. He and Maymun, both trained by Bob Baffert, vied with each other, Speed Boat Beach setting fractions of :22.53 for the first quarter-mile and :44.87 for a half-mile.
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. Spirit of Makena was pulled up on the turn, listed in the chart as having sustained an injury approaching the three-eighths pole.
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.
"All the credit to the owners," said Glatt. "We have had to start and stop—he is a lightly raced horse. But he's well preserved. Hopefully, there are bigger and better things ahead."
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. Hidden Brook sold him for $105,000 at the 2021 Keeneland September Yearling Sale to 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.
Dr. Venkman and Banishing, winner of the Aug. 22 Charles Town Classic Stakes (G2), are two of four 2025 black-type winners sired by perennial leading sire Ghostzapper, the 2004 Horse of the Year and champion older male. Ghostzapper stood most of his career in Kentucky, first at Adena Springs and later at Hill 'n' Dale Farm. He was moved for 2025 to Adena Springs North in Ontario, Canada, where the 25-year-old stallion stood to a limited number of mares for $75,000.
