SARATOGA SPRINGS — In 16 years of owning horses, Roddy Val­ente counts several stakes wins and more than two dozen victories at his hometown track, but has yet to combine the two.

For the Troy native, that could change today.

Valente’s undefeated New York-bred Bustin Stones makes his comeback in the Grade II $150,000 A.G. Vanderbilt at Saratoga Race Course.

Six-for-6 in his career, Bustin Stones is making his first start since winning the Grade I Carter Hand­icap April 5. It will be the third start of the meet for Valente, who won Thursday’s finale with King Mobay.

“I’ve never run a horse in a stake at Saratoga, not once,” Valente said. “It’ll be special to at least lead him over there. I can’t wait.”

A victory would not only keep Bustin Stones’ perfect record intact, but would automaticallly qualify him for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint Oct. 25 at Santa Anita.

The Vanderbilt is the second of four graded stakes on the card as part of the “Win and You’re In” in­itiative that kicked off in the U.S. last summer at Saratoga.

“He looks, physically, the best that I’ve ever seen,” Valente said. “He’s matured now, and he’s taking everything in stride. I’m looking forward to it.”

With the defection of Fabulous Strike with a foot injury, Bustin Stones will share topweight of 118 pounds with 2006 BC Sprint winner Thor’s Echo.

Also entered are graded stakes winners First Defence and E Z Warrior, who ran 2-3 to Eclipse Award-winning sprinter Midnight Lute in last year’s Forego at Saratoga, and Grade II winner Black Seventeen from California.

“They don’t give them away up here, you know that,” Valente said. “My first winner at Saratoga was in 1997, five years after I was in the game. That’s how hard it is to win up here. When I first started, I thought it was impossible.”

Valente, 52, won his first race at Saratoga on Aug. 11, 1997 with a

4-year-old Notebook colt named Curious Court. Favored at 2-1, Cur­ious Court earned the winner’s share of $28,200 from the $47,000 allowance purse.

“Richie Migliore rode him. I’ve got the picture blown up at home,” Valente said. “It was a ball.”

Like Curious Court before him, Bustin Stones is trained by Bruce Levine, who is coming off an outstanding Belmont meet, and is running away with the training title at Monmouth Park.

Nailed to the side of his barn 64 on the Oklahoma training track is an enlarged color poster of the winner’s circle photo from the Carter, the first Grade I victory for owner and trainer.

“Anytime you win a graded stake, it’s always something special,” Levine said. “Especially having an undefeated horse, that adds more to it. Both those things together make it really, really exciting.”

Though he has named horses in the past for his sand, gravel and stone company, such as Gravel King, his first, Valente was saving Bustin Stones for his first big horse. Adding to his enjoyment is that Val­ente also bred the horse out of his mare Shesasurething.

“I haven’t bred a lot of horses,” Valente said. “Just having an un­defeated Grade I winner, and the only undefeated Grade I winner in the country right now, that’s cool.”

From his maiden win to a trio of state-bred stakes, to the Grade II General George Handicap

Feb. 18 at Laurel Park and the Carter, Bustin Stones has never trailed a horse. His victories have come by a combined 161⁄2 lengths.

“It’s hard to tell how good he is,” Levine said. “He doesn’t win by much, but it’s tough to go by him. He kind of reaches back for more every time. We’ll see what happens.”

Levine had initially wanted to run Bustin Stones in the Grade I Met Mile in May, but was forced to readjust when a fever cost the colt some training. He shows several sharp breezes since.

“I wasn’t looking to give him a break then. I was leaning more

toward, believe it or not, up here and go into the fall that way,” Levine said. “After the fever, he just kind of went into a lull so we just kind of waited for him to turn the corner.”

Valente’s past stakes wins have come courtesy of Coyote Lakes, who won the Gallant Fox three times, and Svea Dahl, who won the 2002 Turnback the Alarm. Though Bustin Stones isn’t his first success story, he is the biggest.

“I’m just riding high because he’s undefeated, and I get to compete at that level,” Valente said. “The rest is a bonus. Leading him over there is a bonus for me. That’s the way I feel. It’s fun, but it’s nerve-wracking.”