Venezuelan Forever icing on cake for Treasure Beach

All it took for Venezuelan Forever to break her maiden was a switch in riders, and the 2-year-old daughter of Treasure Beach gave her sire his 14th winner yesterday at Gulfstream Park. Based on the entries listed for the various tracks for the next five days, it appears nobody can catch Treasure Beach in the Florida freshman race by Dec. 31. The filly’s victory was worth $20,700 and brought Treasure Beach’s progeny earnings to $577,089, so the earnings race will go down to the wire; Pleasant Acres’ Poseidon’s Warrior currently leads with $588,613.

Talented Nik Juarez had Venezuelan Forever in fifth place early in the one-mile turf race and his filly was straining to run all the way down the backstretch. Juarez slipped her between horses on the final turn and when a hole opened up heading for home, the gray filly bred by Orlyana Farm exploded through and in a matter of seconds took a daylight lead, coasting to the wire by nearly two lengths.