by Michael Burns

Storm Mayor, reigning back-to-back winner of South America’s prestigious Gran Premio Carlos Pellegrini (Arg-G1) and rising three-year-old star filly Bartola, easy winner of the more recent Gran Premio Criadores (Arg-G1), have been purchased by Saudi Arabian owner Prince Tirki Bin Badr Bin Saoud to be aimed for races at the $21-million Dubai World Cup (UAE-G1) meeting on March 31 at Nad al Sheba. 

Storm Mayor, a top candidate to earn Argentina’s Carlos Pellegrini Award as 2006 Horse of the Year as well as champion older horse, will be pointed to the $6-million Dubai World Cup (UAE-G1), and Bartola will target the $2-million United Arab Emirates Derby (UAE-G2).

Campaigned in Argentina by Angel Dijiani`s Stud Starlight, Storm Mayor annexed six Group 1 wins from 12 starts in his native country. In December, the five-year-old Bernstein horse became the first horse to win back-to-back editions of the Pellegrini since Filon captured South America’s signature event in 1945.

Prior to his sale, Storm Mayor's former connections had declined for the second year in a row an invitation to send the horse to race on the Dubai World Cup (UAE-G1) program. They instead were pointing him for a return start in the Gran Premio Internacional Asociacion Latinoamericana de Jockey Clubes (Arg-G1), a race where he would have been the prohibitive favorite against South America's best handicap horses on Saturday in Buenos Aires.

Bartola, an improving Roy filly, exits a nine-length victory in the 2,500-meter (12.43-furlong) Gran Premio Criadores at Palermo on March 3. She captured four of seven starts in Argentina for former owner Raul Lottero's Haras La Esperanza. 

Both horses are expected to ship to Dubai early next week.

Chilean-based bloodstock agency FB Ltd. handled the transaction for both Storm Mayor and Bartola.

Michael Burns is a South America-based Thoroughbred Times correspondent