History-Making Arizkorreta Flies Flag For Spain Again

[Wandering Eyes]

The new year has already started well for Spain's leading trainer Guillermo Arizkorreta. On January 4, the 13-time champion notched his 1,000th victory in the country when Liam Norris's homebred Stellaris (GB) (Recoletos {Fr}) won at Pineda. 

By now, Arizkorreta should have landed in Dubai where he has already made history by saddling the first Spanish-bred and -trained winner at the carnival with Plantagenet (Spa) back in 2012. The son of Trade Fair (GB) returned to Dubai to win again the following season, and this year his trainer has sent his largest team of six horses to Meydan in a bid to add to his impressive overseas record. 

“We try to travel as much as possible. We've been having lots of runners in France lately and we like to travel farther away as well,” says Arizkorreta, a former leading amateur rider who saw plenty of the racing world in his days competing in the Fegentri series and later working for Luca Cumani in the UK, Con Collins in Ireland and his compatriot Carlos Laffon-Parias in France. 

Home he went, eventually, and just in time for La Zarzuela racecourse in Madrid to reopen for racing after a near-decade-long hiatus. It is fair to say that Arizkorreta has dominated his country's racing scene since then. He wouldn't say it himself, however, for he is far too self-effacing, and he laughs at the suggestion that he is  Spain's answer to Andre Fabre.

“Well, I'm from the same city as Andre Fabre – he was born in San Sebastián,” is his only admission on that front.

Of his immediate international plans, which include having two runners on Friday at Meydan in Sky Hawk (GB) (Advertise {GB}) and Thundering (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}), he says, “My biggest client has had a couple of horses in Dubai in the past and he was keen to have more there this year. We plan to send handicappers to those races which have good prize-money – kind of 80-rated horses. We bought a few at the Horses-in-Training Sale in Newmarket and we have sent a few who have run in Spain.”

The six-year-old Thundering will be making his debut for Arizkoretta and his owner Horses & Berries having won twice for Kevin Ryan before changing hands last October at Tattersalls. Sky Hawk was bought from the same sale a year earlier after making one start for Richard Fahey and the four-year-old is now a dual winner in Spain, as well as finishing runner-up in another four of his eight starts last year. 

“We've had horses in Dubai six or seven times now overall,” Arizkorreta says. “It's very hard to win there. We've had a few places and the horses have generally run well but it is very competitive. I was thinking about going to Bahrain but I didn't find a horse in the end, but I hope to have a runner in the International Handicap in Saudi.”

 

Guillermo Arizkorreta at Tattersalls in Newmarket | Laura Green

 

Along with one of his proudest days on home turf when winning the Listed Gran Premio de Madrid for the first time with Madrileno (GB) (Sir Percy {GB}) in 2016, Arizkorreta has gradually compiled a decent stakes record and, despite the dearth of black-type races in Spain, now has ten stakes wins to his credit. These include a double on arguably the biggest day of his career to date when he won consecutive group races on the same card in Baden-Baden. Kitty Marion (GB) (Iffraaj {GB}) landed the G3 Goldene Peitsche and was swiftly followed into the winner'e enclosure when Rodaballo (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) won the G2 Oettingen Rennen.

“We've been lucky when we've travelled and we try to go to France as often as we can as it's not too far from Madrid,” he says. “Maybe 20 to 25 per cent of our runners are in France. We find suitable races wherever we can – in Germany, Switzerland or Italy. We love travelling.”

The trainer's most recent notable success in France came last October with the Listed Grand Criterium de Bordeaux winner Bulnes (Ire) (Galileo Gold {Ire}). His stable housed not just this top two-year-old colt in Spain last year but also the country's leading juvenile filly, Octans (Spa) (The Grey Gatsby {Ire}). While Bulnes will remain in the Spanish capital in the countdown to the domestic 2,000 Guineas (Gran Premio Cimera) in Madrid in late April, Octans is already in Dubai where she will attempt to enhance her impressive record from last year of four wins and a second from five starts. 

“We're going to try to have her in the sun and run a couple of races in Dubai before she comes back  and then her aim is the Spanish Guineas [Gran Premio Valderas],” says Arizkorreta, who has now been based at La Zarzuela since 2006. The stunning racecourse, which has the downtown cityscape of Madrid as a backdrop, also acts as the country's largest training centre, with just over 400 horses across the resident trainers.

 

Another Arizkorreta winner in the circle at La Zarzuela, Madrid | Emma Berry

 

“Madrid racecourse still has good prize-money and is still very popular with the locals but racing in Spain is not growing, that's for sure. There are around 800 horses in training overall in the country and roughly 400 races a year,” says the trainer. 

As this week's cover star of the Spanish racing publication A Galopar, Arizkorreta would certainly give the racing fans of his home nation plenty to cheer about if he can strike again on the international stage in the Middle East. While Alcaraz (Fr) (Intello {Ger}), a relation to Treve (Fr) whom he bought from Jean-Claude Rouget's stable last year, looks set to represent him in Riyadh, the team in Dubai includes the well-bred Shamran (GB) (Kingman {GB}), another recent purchase, this time from breeder Imad Al Sagar and trainer Harry Charlton, at Tattersalls last October. Rated 82, the four-year-old could be in action at Meydan as soon as next week. 

Competitive that action may be, but it would be no surprise to see the flag of Spain flying once more in Dubai, courtesy of its country's most enterprising trainer. 

 

The post History-Making Arizkorreta Flies Flag For Spain Again  appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

View the full article