Breeders' Cup Mile Berth on the Line in Chile
Description:
Led by multiple group-stakes winners Nombar (CHI) and Tamburo Di Oro from the barn of leading trainer Guillermo Aguirre, a field of 13 runners, including 2017 winner Top Casablanca (CHI), have been entered for Sunday's (May 26) 1 ¼-mile Gran Premio Club Hipico Falabella (G1) on turf at Club Hipico. The winner of the Gran Premio Club Hipico Falabella will an automatic starting position into this year's $2 million Breeders' Cup Mile (G1) through the international Breeders' Cup Challenge.
The Breeders' Cup Challenge is an international series of 86 stakes races whose winners receive free berths and fees paid into a corresponding race of the Breeders' Cup World Championships, which will be held at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California on November 1-2.
As a part of the benefits of the Challenge series, the Breeders' Cup will pay the entry fees for the winner of the Gran Premio Club Hipico Falabella to start in the Breeders' Cup Mile. Breeders' Cup will also provide a $40,000 travel allowance for all starters based outside of North America to compete in the World Championships. If not Breeders' Cup eligible, the Challenge winner must be nominated to the Breeders' Cup program by the pre-entry deadline of Oct. 21 of next year to receive the rewards.
Stud Dona Eliana's 3-year-old Nombar, a bay son of Mastercraftsman (IRE), has won 4 of 9 starts this season for Aguirre. Nombar's most recent score was a nose victory at Club Hipico in the 1 ¼- mile Otono Pedro Garcia de la Huerta (G2), closing from far back for the win as the 5-2 favorite. Prior to that, Nombar finished second by 3 ¾ lengths to Ya Primo (CHI) in the Longines Gran Premio Latino Americano (G1) at Valparaiso in Chile. Ridden by Bernardo Leon, Nombar's three other wins this season, all at Club Hipico, came in the Gran Clasico Coronation Pablo Baraona (G2) at about 1 ¼ miles on December 9, and in back-to-back one-mile victories last July 27 and August 17.
Following a disappointing 15th place finish in the 1 3/8-mile Gran Premio Hipodromo Chile (G1) on dirt three weeks ago, Aguirre has returned El Tata's 4-year-old Tamburo Di Oro to the turf course, where he has won three consecutive races this year. A bay son of Henrythenavigator out of the Proud Citizen mare Tabita (CHI), Tamburo Di Oro won a six-furlong handicap on January 14 at Club Hipico and stretched out to 1 1/8 miles over the same course in another handicap race one month later, winning by 7 ½ lengths. Tamburo Di Oro made it a trio of turf wins by capturing the listed Municipal de Vina del Mar by 1 ¾ lengths at Valparaiso on March 20. He will be ridden on Sunday by Jeremy Laprida.
Haras Matriarca's 3-year-old Brown Storm (CHI) has finished third in his last three starts, all in Group stakes. A chestnut son of Scat Daddy out of Blazing Storm (IRE) by Acclamation (GB), Brown Storm led through the first half of the 1 ¼-mile Huerta in his last start, but faded on turn for home and finished 3 ½ lengths behind Nombar. Trained by Patricio Baeza and ridden by Guillermo Pontigo, Brown Storm finished 3 ¾ lengths behind Ya Primo in the Gran Premio Latino Americano, and held onto the show position virtually the entire way in the 1 ½ mile El Derby (G1) at Valparaiso on February 3.
Victor Ferrando's 6-year-old Larco (CHI) has won 15 races in 21 starts and is one of Chile's most consistent milers. The bay son of Ivan Denisovich (IRE) finished third in the 2017 running of the Gran Premio Club Hipico Falabella. Trained by Jose De La Cerda and ridden by Luis Torres, Larco has won four of six starts in conditional stakes this season.
Making his fourth consecutive start in this race is the 2017 winner Top Casablanca (CHI). Owned by Haras Matancilla and trained by Pablo Baeza, Top Casablanca earned the Champion Older Horse title in Chile that year. In 2016, the bay son of Seeking the Dia finished third in the Falabella, and was third last year as well. He has one win in seven starts this season, capturing the listed Ejercito de Chile at Hipodromo Chile on September 15 of last year. Top Casablanca will be ridden by Jorge Gonzalez, Jr.
The Breeders' Cup Challenge Series, now in its 13th year, will be held at many of the world's premier racetracks in 11 countries: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, England, France, Japan, Ireland, Peru, South Africa and the United States.
The Gran Premio Club Hipico Falabella is the third of five Breeders' Cup Challenge races to be run in South America for the 2019 season. Il Mercato (ARG) qualified for the Longines Breeders' Cup Turf when he won the Gran Premio Carlos Pellegrini (G1) last December at San Isidro, and Entropia (ARG) won the Gran Premio Criadores at Palermo in Argentina to earn an automatic berth into the Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff.