Fairy Magic to bid for repeat win in Estrellas Classic
by Michael Burns
Fairy Magic will take aim on a second consecutive win in the $236,710 Gran Premio Estrellas Classic – Copa Escribano Hernan Ceriani Cernadas (Arg-G1), the highlight of the Carreras de las Estrellas card, Argentina's version of the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships, on Saturday at Palermo.
The purses for the 18th edition of the Carreras de las Estrellas will enjoy a substantial increase as approximately $647,840 to be distributed among the program’s six Group 1 races.
The card also includes the inaugural running of the Clasico Estrellas Mile.
Fairy Magic, winner of last year's Estrellas Classic by three-quarters of a length over Honey Nov at San Isidro, will attempt to duplicate the feat of former Argentine champion miler El Compinche, who won the race in 1996 and ’98.
Trained by Alfredo Gaitan Dassie and campaigned by Stud Las Hormigas, Fairy Magic will bid for his fourth career Group 1 victory in the 2,000-meter (9.94-furlong) dirt race.
Jockey Jose Ricardo Mendez, who guided in seven winners at San Isidro on June 21, has the assignment the Southern Halo colt, who enters off a half-length victory in the one-mile Gran Premio De las Americas-OSAF-Copa Eduardo S. Blousson (Arg-G1) at Palermo on May 3. The race is his lone start this year after finishing fifth in the 2007 Carlos Pellegrini (Arg-G1) on the turf at San Isidro.
Challengers include Teamgeist, runner-up of last season's Estrellas Distaff (Arg-G1); Visa Parade (Arg), who returns to Argentina after racing in the United States; Group 1 winner Life of Victory; and Puchet, most recently runner-up in the Gran Premio Internacional Republica Argentina (Arg-G1.
The other five Group 1 races on the Carreras de las Estrellas card include the 1,600-meter (7.95-furlong) Estrellas Juvenile (Arg-G1) and Estrellas Juvenile Fillies (Arg-G1), the 2,000-meter Estrellas Distaff (Arg-G1), and the 1,000-meter (4.97-furlong) Estrellas Sprint (Arg-G1) and Estrellas Junior Sprint (Arg-G1).
Michael Burns is a South American-based Thoroughbred Times correspondent