Sixties Song Strikes in Latino Americano

Sixties Song, representing Argentina, struck the front at the top of the long stretch of the Valparaiso Sporting Club March 5 to win the $500,000 Longines Gran Premio Americano (G1) by open lengths. The well-bred son of Sixties Icon—Blissful Song, by Unbridled’s Song was piloted by Juan Villagra.

The winner of Argentina’s top race for older runners at 1 1/2 miles, the Carlos Pellegrini (G1) in mid-December, Sixties Song was considered one of the top runners for the turf race, but the Chilean patrons on hand in Vina Del Mar, opted to make El Derby (G1) winner Full of Luck the favorite. Full of Luck, a son of shuttler Looking At Lucky, finished second but was demoted to third behind another Chilean-bred, Tinku, who is also by the Ashford Stud stallion, for interference in the stretch.

The winner, trained by Alfredo Gaitan Dassie, got the distance in 2:24.88.

The Latino Americano, the richest race on the continent, has been run since 1981 and, like the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, moves from site to site between Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay. Held in Chile many times, this year's race was run for the first time outside of Santiago, taking place at Carlo Rossi’s Valparaiso Sporting Club, which is just a few furlongs from the Pacific Ocean.

Sixties Song was bred in Argentina by Juan Carlos Bago’s Firmamento. One of the country’s largest Thoroughbred operations, Bago began the farm more than 40 years ago and has bred and raised some of the continent’s top runners. It has been home to many Northern Hemisphere stallions, including Shanghai Bobby   and the late Harlan’s Holiday. Sixties Icon, a son of Galileo, has plenty of stamina in his sire line as the winner of the classic St. Leger (G1) at 1 3/4 miles at 3 in 2006.

Bago noted he started the farm with “three bad mares” and grown it to more than 300 as the decades have passed. Firmamento purchased Blissful Song for $30,000 out of the 2009 Keeneland November sale. Her pedigree page is much improved and she is a half sister to the dam of Breeder’s Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) winner Bobby's Kitten   and grade 2 winner Camelot Kitten.

The Latino Americano winner is owned by three partners from Argentina, led by Julio Biancardi.

The win, worth $300,000, comes with a “Win and You’re In”-type arrangement with Ascot Race Course for the summer’s King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (G1). None of the winners of the Latino have taken that option but prior to the race the owners were keen on going should they see what they needed of Sixties Song.

The highest rated Thoroughbred in South America on the Longines World Thoroughbred Rankings by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities heading into the Latino, it is assured Sixties Song will advance his position globally.