Breeders' Cup Berth on Line in Gran Premio Pamplona

Led by Puerta Cerranda's multiple Group 1-winning 3-year-old Juliana (PER) and Altamar's 3-year-old La Onda (PER), 16 fillies and mares have been entered in a wide-open renewal of Sunday's 1 1/4-mile Gran Premio Pamplona (G1) at Hipodromo Monterrico. The winner of Pamplona will earn an automatic berth into the Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1) through the international Breeders' Cup Challenge.

The Breeders' Cup Challenge is an international series of 86 stakes races, whose winners receive automatic starting positions and fees paid into a corresponding race of the Breeders' Cup World Championships, which will be held at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, Nov. 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 Pamplona to start in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf, which this year will be run at 1 1/4 miles.  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 October 21 to receive the rewards.

Juliana, a chestnut filly by Eye on Jacob (PER) out to the Pine Bluff mare Flight to Cash (PER), is making her first start since winning a 1 ¼-mile stakes race at Monterrico on Jan.13.  She earned Champion 3-year-old filly honors in 2018 with back-to-back scores in Group 1 dirt races at Monterrico. Trained by Juan Suarez Villarroel and ridden by Martin Chuan, Juliana won the one-mile Clasico Polla de Potrancas on Aug. 26 by 1 ¼ lengths, and then improved on that performance by taking the 1 1/4-mile Clasico Enrique Ayulo Pardo by 5 ¾ lengths on Sept. 23. She raced against males in her next two starts on turf, first in the Derby Nacional (G1), where she finished fourth, and closed out the year with a  second-place finish in the 1 ½ mile Gran Premio Nacional Augusto B. Leguia (G1).

The consistent Sabino Arias-trained La Onda has won four of nine starts, and has finished out of the money just once in her career. However, the Pamplona will be her first test beyond a mile. A chestnut daughter of Man of Iron, La Onda has won two of three starts in 2019, the most recent one being a win by a head in a one-mile stake at Monterrico on April 21. Ridden on Sunday by Carlos Trujillo, La Onda is seeking her first Group 1 score, while 2 for 2 on turf. She finished third last August in the Clasico Polla de Pontracas, 3 ¾ lengths behind Juliana. 

Villaroel also will send out Stud Couet's 3-year-old Birdie Queen, bred in Kentucky by Teneri Farm. Birdie Queen has won two races in five starts, but is stepping into Group stakes company for the first time on Sunday. A chestnut daughter of First Samurai out of the Singspiel (IRE) mare Singitnsignit, Birdie Queen, ridden by Angelo Arias, broke her maiden at five furlongs in February of 2018, and won a nine-furlong allowance race two months later. She comes into the Pamplona off a second-place finish by a neck in a six-furlong stake at Monterrico on April 14.

Dona Licha's First Movie (ARG) won the 1 ¼-mile Clasico Republica Argentina (G3) at Monterrico on June 2 by three-quarters of a length, which was her third win in 11 starts. Trained by Filomeno Bernal and ridden by Mariano Arenas, First Movie, a 3-year-old chestnut filly by Violence, finished third in a 10-furlong prep on April 7, prior to the Repulica Argentina. In her only other Group 1 attempt, she finished eighth in the Clasico Enrique Ayulo Pardo.  

Stud El Herraje's 4-year-old Alma Guerrera (PER) is making her 13th start this season, dating back to last September. A dark bay or brown daughter of Eye of Jacob, trained by Luis Otero and ridden by Ismael Quispe, Alma Guerrera has won five races during her 2018-2019 campaign, most recently the listed one-mile Clasico Reina Isabel II on dirt on March 19. 

The Gran Premio Pamplona is the fifth of five Breeders' Cup Challenge races run in South America in this year's series.  Il Mercato (ARG) won last December's Gran Premio International Carlos Pellegrini (G1) to gain a free berth into the Longines Breeders' Cup Turf; Entropia (ARG) captured the Gran Premio Criadores (G1) at Palermo to earn a free berth into the Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1); Tamburo Di Oro (CHI) secured a "Win and You're In" tally  for the Breeders' Cup Mile (G1) when he won the Gran Premio Club Hipico Falabella (G1) in Santiago Chile and George Washington (BRZ) also won a Breeders' Cup Turf position when he won the Grande Premio Brazil at Gavea in Rio de Janeiro.