The Race That Belongs to South America

[Wandering Eyes]

Sport unites nations. People of all cultures and backgrounds converge on the World Cup every four years. Despite their different allegiances they meld together, roaring and applauding as one enormous audience at the matches, immortalizing the winners who rise to the top of their game. The chronicle of the event will be retold again and again in different languages, remaining the same regardless of the tongue uttering the details.

Horses unite people as well, and there is another sporting event that draws together multifarious nations. Not as well known as the World Cup, nor as abundantly attended as the prestigious Royal Ascot, but equally valued by the people who witness it–the G1 Longines Gran Premio Latinoamericano.

On the evening of March 11, Roman Rosso jogged in front of the cheering crowd at Hipódromo Nacional de Maroñas, led by a palafrenero (outrider) after winning the 2018 Latinoamericano for Argentina. Jockey Wilson Moreyra held his helmet in the air, waving it up and down.

As they trotted back to the winner’s circle, Moreyra grasped at the blanket of red and white flowers draped over Roman Rosso’s neck, pulling out handfuls upon handfuls. Instead of tossing them into the air for the cameras to capture flower petals raining down over his head, he chucked them over the rail into the crowd. Few actually made it, with most lacking the distance to clear the path used to walk horses to and from the paddock. But he continued throwing them–not an act for the cameras, but for the people.

Because the Latinoamericano is a race for the people. For the Argentinians, Brazilians, Chileans, Peruvians and Uruguayans. It represents the pure emotion and pride generated from the love of your country and passion for the sport.

The idea for the Latinoamericano was formed in 1980, when members of the Asociacion Latinoamericana de Jockey Clubes e Hipodromos convened in Buenos Aires to discuss the creation of an international pattern race that would rotate between South American countries. The inaugural Gran Premio Latinoamericano took place in 1981 at Maroñas, located in Montevideo, Uruguay.

The 2018 edition of the “Latino,” as it is called, was run at Maroñas for the third time in the race’s history. Conducted over a distance of 1 1/4 miles, entrants competed for a purse of $500,000 U.S.

Each country is allotted a particular number of competitors, with representative horses nominated through designated racing jurisdictions in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Peru.

Oscar Bertoletti, CEO of OSAF (South American Organization for the Promotion of the Thoroughbred), which puts on the Latinoamericano each year–explained that while the connections of the horses running in the Latino want to win the greatest races in each of their respective countries, such as the G1 Pellegrini in Argentina or the G1 José Pedro Ramírez in Uruguay, the pride of winning the Latino extends beyond just winning a race.

“The Latino is a Group 1 race with national identity,” Bertoletti said. “This is like the national soccer team, they think, ‘I am representing my country.'”

Back at the track, Roman Rosso’s groom ran into the winner’s circle and slammed into the hard embrace of a hug from an overjoyed ownership connection. The liver chestnut colt was led in to join the celebration, human bodies surrounding him on either side–a mosh pit of credentialed media, photographers wearing orange pinnies, ownership connections and a 1,000-something-pound horse.

One reporter held a cell phone up to Moreyra’s mouth to record his initial reaction. The owner’s daughter kissed Roman Rosso’s nose. The groom of each horse had been given a small flag of the country they represented. At one point, the Argentine flag grasped by Roman Rosso’s groom brushed up against the colt’s nose, waving slightly from the force of his breath.

Finally, Roman Rosso was led out of the winner’s circle wearing the white Longines blanket of the Gran Premio Latinoamericano winner. The mosh pit thinned, moving to the awards presentation on a stage adjacent to the winner’s circle. Remnants of the shredded blanket of flowers were left behind in the form of red rose petals strewn across the ground.

After the race, winning trainer Jorge Mayansky used one word to describe Roman Rosso: “Ideal. Una sola palabra: ideal. Literalmente ideal.”

After the awards presentation for the Latino dispersed, Bertoletti spoke about the importance of the race within the South American continental community.

“It’s the biggest race, because if you see the rating of the horses, the better horses for each country come here,” Bertoletti said. “And the other particularity is that the race is the only Black Type Group 1 that moves from country to country each year.”

The 2019 and 2020 editions of the Latino will take place at Club Hípico in Chile and San Isidro in Argentina. Bertoletti foresees even more improvement in the years to come, partially fueled by the sponsorship of Longines.

“The first [sponsorship] agreement with Longines was in 2014, and we try to improve year by year,” he said. “[This year] we signed a new agreement for another five years with Longines, and we hope we can make the next stake the biggest stake.”

Bertoletti said they would like to see the event continue to grow with additional races of varying conditions–almost emulating the model of the Breeders’ Cup–but the enormous cost barriers and difficulty of transporting horses across country borders will make it a challenge to achieve. The OSAF could also one day even the ratios of horses from each country who travel to compete, making the races even more international.

With the Maronas grandstand filled with a crowd comparable to a stakes day at Keeneland or Saratoga, an Argentine colleague said it best as we watched the day of the Latino unfold: from touring the saddling area to watching the jockeys mount for the Latino and seeing the victorious connections smile and wave for photographers. He explained the pure passion that drives the horses’ connections, noting that even if the purse was taken away, people would still want to run their horses–for the two grandest prizes in the Premio Latinoamericano are pride and glory.

 

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