Jump to User Comments ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The racegoing public had not seen Ventura since her second-place finish in the seven-furlong Madison at Keeneland back on April 9.

Neither had jockey Garrett Gomez, until he got a look at Ventura in the walking ring here Sunday prior to the Woodbine Mile.

"She looked bigger, and stronger," said Gomez.

Ventura, a homebred 5-year-old mare who had finished second in the stakes last year, proceeded to overpower her male rivals with a ninth-to-first move that carried her to a one-length victory in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile.

It was the second time in three years that Gomez has ridden the Mile winner. He took the 2007 running with Shakespeare.

Only the sixth female to run in the Woodbine Mile, Ventura earned a guaranteed berth in the Breeders' Cup Mile with her win on Sunday but is headed for a defense of her title in the seven-furlong Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita.

"She loves Santa Anita, with the one-turn seven furlongs on the Polytrack," said Garrett O'Rourke, manager of Juddmonte Farm, who represented the owners and trainer Bobby Frankel here. "A mile is pushing the limits of her stamina."

Following the race, O'Rourke also commented on Ventura's changed appearance.

"She's definitely beefed up," said O'Rourke. "She looks much better now than when I last saw her, at the end of July."

O'Rourke also explained that Ventura's five-month absence from the races was by design.

"She'd been on the go for a long time, from the Breeders' Cup to the Madison," said O'Rourke, noting that Ventura had been called upon for big efforts while winning Santa Anita's Santa Monica and dropping a nose decision to Gio Ponti there in the Frank Kilroe prior to losing by a head in Keeneland's Madison. "Bobby just made the call, to go for the Woodbine Mile and the Breeders' Cup."

Ventura, who had checked into Woodbine a week ago last Friday, will remain here for the time being while her Breeders' Cup travel plans are formulated.