Hopes of Calderon, Peru with Valiant Emelia

Should Valiant Emilia register an upset victory in the $2 million Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (gr. I) Oct. 31 at Santa Anita Park, it not only would be a dream come true for Peruvian owner-breeder Bernardo Calderon, but could spark more interest in Thoroughbred racing and breeding in his country.

Valiant Emilia, a 5-year-old daughter of Pegasus Wind, punched her Distaff ticket with a victory in the Clasico Cesar Del Rio Suito (Per-III) June 22 at Hipodromo Monterrico in Lima, a Breeders' Cup Challenge "Win and You're In" race. She has not started since then.

"I think it is very important to have this competition. You try to measure against the best," Calderon said. "If she were to run well, I think it would be a good stimulus to breeding in Peru. It would show that the horses are being well bred. It would show that it is possible to compete here."

Calderon has seen the strength of Valiant Emilia's family for four generations. Calderon and his Haras La Qallana bred third dam Proud Emilia, who finished third to future Racing Hall of Famer Safely Kept in the 1990 Garden State Park Budweiser Breeders' Cup Handicap (gr. III). She would produce Peruvian group III winner Saint Emilia (by Saint Ballado) and twice be named Broodmare of the Year in Peru.

Saint Emilia is the second dam of Valiant Emilia. While Valiant Emilia's dam Valiant Saint, by Aljabr, failed to place on the track, Calderon said she has been an excellent broodmare. Her first three foals are all winners.

"This dam didn't do much on track but has been a good producer," said Calderon, who breeds about 45 mares in Peru and another 10 on Southern Hemisphere time in Kentucky.

As a Breeders' Cup Challenge "Win and You're In" race, the Clasico Cesar Del Rio Suito attracted top fillies and mares from several South American countries. With the victory and the paid starter fees for the Distaff, Calderon decided to ship her to the U.S. for the 1 1/8-mile race for fillies and mares where she'll try to become the first horse bred in Peru to win or place in a Breeders' Cup race. 

The only previous Peruvian-bred to start in a Breeders' Cup race is Almudena, who was off the board in the 2012 Marathon (gr. II).

When Calderon races horses in the U.S. under the Teneri Farm name, he typically sends them to Michael Matz, who he met through a mutual friend from his riding days. But with the Breeders' Cup in Southern California this year, all parties felt it would be asking too much to ship from Peru and then make another big trip. Matz recommended Richard and Gary Mandella.

Since Richard Mandella already was pointing Beholder to the Distaff (until the two-time champion was removed from consideration Oct. 19 when she spiked a fever), son Gary picked up the training of Valiant Emilia. With Valiant Emilia completing an 8,000-mile trip to Santa Anita, Gary Mandella banked on his experience working with some of his dad's notable stars imported from South America, horses such as Gentlemen, Siphon, and Malek.

"I am leaning on the experience I gained working with my dad when we had so many great South American horses come up. We've seen this. We know that some of them can come up and in a couple of weeks turn very good and be ready to go. But some of them just don't. It really hits them hard and they just have to have some time off," Mandella said. "At first I was worried that Valiant Emilia was going to be that way because she had lost weight traveling, then we got her training a little bit at Del Mar but she didn't look good. 

"Based on the way she trained, I don't think we would have run her on the synthetic. Then she got a little sick. We kind of barely trained her there; I don't know if she was tired or just didn't like the track. But once we got her (at Santa Anita), got her out of Del Mar, everything has gone much better. Whether that's time, environment, racing surface? It's probably a combination of all of it."

Mandella said his father has helped him with Valiant Emilia, who has worked with 2011 Santa Anita Handicap (gr. I) runner-up Setsuko, who is trained by Richard Mandella.

"I've gone to my father for advice like I always do anyway—I'm not embarrassed to admit that—so it's been a team effort," Gary Mandella said. "We've have to make a lot of audibles because she got a little sick at Del Mar. There were some things we had to work on, but the last several weeks have gone really well for her.

"With Beholder's defection, everybody has a little bit better chance to win the race, including us."

Gary Mandella said those four October works at Santa Anita with Setsuko were used as a gauge to determine if Valiant Emilia should be entered in the Distaff.

"We didn't make it easy on ourselves in deciding to run. We didn't send her out in the mornings with a maiden-claiming horse to work with," Gary Mandella said. "In working with my father to try to get this horse ready, she's been working with Setsuko, and trading punches with him and holding her own. He's getting a little bit older and may not be the horse he once was, but he has a hell of a resume. If she can work as good as him, and look as good as him in the morning; she deserves a chance in this race. 

"She deserves a shot. Where she'll end up is hard to say. No question she's an X-factor. She's training with a horse who is very accomplished and showing in the morning that she has some ability."