Stuart Uncovers Another South American Gem in Didia

For more than 30 years, bloodstock agent John Stuart has been exploring the South American horse market, discovering an array of successful athletes such as 2019 Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) heroine Blue Prize (ARG) and most recently, this year's Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf Invitational Stakes (G1T) victress Didia . In Stuart's first trip to South America, he uncovered Roy, a multiple leading stallion in Argentina and Chile, and has made a trip to South America every year since.

Stuart, the founder of Kentucky-based Bluegrass Thoroughbred Services, spoke to BloodHorse about finding horses in the "underrated" South American market, what it takes for a horse to transition to racing in the U.S., and bringing budding turf star Didia to North America.

BloodHorse: What compelled you to begin exploring the South American horse market?

John Stuart: It seemed like a lot of my competitors would go to Europe when they wanted to get out of Lexington. I went down and looked around Australia a little bit, which was very far away. I did some business there but then I organized a trip to look at the breeding and racing business in Chile, Argentina, and Brazil. That was some 30 years ago. While I was down there, it dawned on me that the racing in Argentina in particular is the most like the U.S. compared to any other country in the world. It just made sense if you're trying to buy horses to race in America to buy horses from a country with the same type of racing that we do.

The only hiccup is that the horses need six months or so to acclimate because they are born in a different hemisphere. They race down there mostly on dirt, they start them as 2-year-olds, they have the classic races at age 3 and they run counterclockwise. And furthermore, there was nobody else working the area so we worked it and have for years.

The South American market is underrated. The dollar goes a long way down there. It doesn't go a long way at Newmarket. You're getting better value for money if you want to race in America.

BH: What is the process like in purchasing a horse in South America?

JS: You have to get down there. You have to find somebody down there in the country that you like, that's very smart and you can do business with. That's what we did. We found who I think is the smartest guy down there—Ignacio Pavlosky. His father actually did the same thing, finding horses in South America to bring to the U.S. He was responsible for sending Candy Ride   (as well as grade 1 winning race mares Bayakoa and Paseana) to the U.S. We tell (Ignacio) what we want and what we need and then we go looking for it. I once had a client who didn't want to spend a lot of money and (Pavlosky) found us a filly who was on the backside on a side street at San Isidro (Racecourse) in a small stable. She had only run one race. I saw when they went to the gap they turned her loose and she sort of of ran off. It made me think well she's got a lot of ability and she has a lot of American pedigree in her breeding. That filly was Potra Clasica, and she won or placed in nine stakes here after we imported her from Argentina.

BH: How do you assess whether a South American horse will be able to successfully transition to U.S. racing?

JS: It can be difficult to judge how fast a horse is down there compared to in America. In the U.S. we have many different ways to handicap based on numbers. You can use a Rag number, a Thoro-Graph number, or a Thoro-Manager number. They don't have that down there. They have a handicap system where they weigh the horse internationally. But I don't really use that. I've tried using clockers, and handicappers, but what it really comes down to is the judgment of the guys that are there seeing these horses every day on the backstretch. The guys that you partner with. You have to go with their judgment in the end—that's the tricky part. You also know that there are certain horses that won't fit with American racing. For example, speed horses from the countries down there don't really work in the U.S. because the sprinters here are just so much faster. The horses that tend to fit well are the two-turn classic types. We're breeding more and more horses in the U.S. that can't run 1 1/14 miles on the dirt, so if we can find a two-turn dirt filly down there like Blue Prize, that's a horse that fits in and will excel over here. The turf horses can be a little trickier because they have to come here and run against all the imported Euros.

BH: Were you confident that Didia would be able to perform over here?

JS: In the case of Didia, she was so good and so brilliant we were sure she would perform well here. She won two group 1 races easily before we were able to make a deal for her. She was very expensive, as expensive as a top Euro filly. The difference is a top Euro filly you can't buy, whereas in Argentina you can buy. They are in the business of selling horses. They don't sell the yearlings very well so they have to make their money selling racehorses to foreign countries.

My point man (Pavlosky) bred Didia. She was right there in front of us and we knew about her early.

BH: Didia has won her third graded stakes race in the U.S. What did you think of Didia's race in the Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf?

JS: I thought it was a very impressive race. She's a filly that's been taught to run from off the pace but we felt like the new turf course had been playing so fast and speedy at Gulfstream so we wanted her to run up close. And she actually got on the lead early in the race running 1-2. That was a different dimension for her. She's undefeated at 1 1/16 miles but she can stay much further. (Trainer) Ignacio (Correas IV) was very confident in her coming into the race. This filly has a way about her where she wants to win. She's very competitive, she wants to win.

BH: You've had a lot of success with Didia's owners, Merriebelle Stables. How did you come to meet the operation's founders John Moores and Charles Noell? Can you talk about that relationship?

JS: Charlie Noell went to prep school with my partner Peter Bance in Richmond, Va. That's where they are both from. When Charlie decided to get into the horse business, racing, breeding, and his partner John Moores bought two farms that are next two each other in Midway area known as Chanteclair Farm. They hired Bluegrass Thoroughbred Services to manage it and the account is basically run by Peter Bance since his longtime friendship with Charlie. My son Sandy oversees the farm with the farm manager, Declan Burke. He and Peter are what you would call the account managers for Merriebelle. And they've done a great job. They've come up with a record broodmare sale in Europe with Immortal Verse and a champion 2-year-old filly they had in England named Tiggy Wiggy and now horses like Blue Prize and Didia in the U.S.

BH: How would you compare the South American-bred horses to the U.S.-bred horses on a physical level?

JS: I don't see much difference in their physical. I see a lot more difference in the European look compared to the U.S. as opposed to the South American look. The European horses tend to be smaller and lighter. Our American horses are big, strong-bodied and the South American horses are also that way.

There is a lot of American blood down there that makes these horses compatible to American racing. Blue Prize for example was by Pure Prize, a proper Phipps racehorse, and her second dam was by the American stallion Cure The Blues. Candy Ride was sired by an American-bred horse I sold as a weanling at Keeneland (Ride the Rails).

Around 20 years ago they began shutting American stallions down there. A few stallions that spent a few of their early years shuttling—and improving the breed in South America include Scat Daddy, Constitution, and Practical Joke. In times past they used American and European stallions that had some pedigree but not much race record. So the breed is better now than ever before.

BH: In the past few months, horses from South America such as O'Connor  and Master Piece  have claimed graded stakes wins at 6 and 7 years old. Both of their connections have remarked on the soundness of these horses. Why do you believe the South American horses have proven to be so resilient?

JS: They train their horses pretty hard down there from a young age. They conduct informal trial races for 2-year-olds in the countryside. You're talking about horses that are able to overcome everything and stay sound at the top level down there. You're getting a sound horse. I think they're the toughest and soundest of any Thoroughbred bred anywhere.