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Raiders from the Southern Hemisphere

By Kimberly French
First Published: 08 April 2009 - Issue Number: 12

For nearly three-quarters of a century, Southern Hemisphere horses have collected their fair share of graded stakes and championship honors as well as influenced bloodlines in the Northern Hemisphere.

Hall of Fame trainer Horatio Luro relocated to California from his native Argentina in 1937. Most of his early stable stars were South American horses: in 1939 Kayak II (Arg) was Champion Older Male Handicap Horse; in 1948 Talon (Arg) won the Grade I Santa Anita Handicap, and in 1953 Iceberg II (Chi), was voted Champion Grass Horse.
Charlie Whittingham, a Hall of Famer and Luro’s former assistant, trained Cougar II (Chi), the first South American import to win $1 million while racing in the United States. He was the 1972 Eclipse Award grass champion and a 2006 Hall of Fame inductee.
“As long as they can run, it doesn’t matter what kind of horse they are,” Hall of Fame trainer Ron McAnally said.
Nearly three decades ago, the now 76-year-old began purchasing South American horses to race in the United States.
“They were running good horses down there for a lot cheaper purses so it helped their owners to sell them for a good price,” McAnally said. “Back when I started, we were giving $100,000 or $200,000 for them, but now we can’t match dollars with the sheikhs.”
From the 25 or 30 horses he transported to California, Bayakoa (Arg) was Champion Older Female in 1988 and 1989, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1998; Paseana (Arg), a 2001 Hall of Fame inductee, was Champion Older Female in 1992 and 1993; Candy Ride (Arg) won the 2003 Grade I Pacific Classic in track record time; Different (Arg) was a multiple Grade I winner; and several other horses were graded stakes winners.
There is one South American horse McAnally inspected that wound up in someone else’s barn. “We almost bought Invasor,” McAnally said. “At the last minute the Craigs decided they wanted to try for a Derby horse, so we stopped the vet examination.”
Ken McPeek, who bought two-time Horse of the Year Curlin as a yearling for $57,000, has successfully imported horses from the Southern Hemisphere and generally seeks younger horses that possess a nice hip, balance, a good eye, decent-sized shoulder and a certain presence. Grade I winner and Group I placed Hard Buck (Arg) and Grade I victor Einstein (Brz) fit his criteria.
“Good horses can come from anywhere, whether it’s Brazil, Argentina or Keeneland’s September sale,” the classic-winning trainer said. “The Thoroughbred, in general, is a hybrid and you just don’t know which one is going to have that injection of quality. It’s the ones that make you stop and say, ‘Wow, this horse can run anywhere.’ That’s how it was with Hard Buck when I saw him in his stall in the Brazilian mountains.
“Einstein was technically only three when he beat older horses in the Grade I Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap in 2006,” he continued. “That just shows you how special he is and I don’t know of anyone else ever buying a horse as a yearling from South America that has done that.”
In McPeek’s experience, it takes about six months for most Southern Hemisphere hors...

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