Ya Primo wins the Longines Gran Premio Latinoamericano in Santiago

The four year old, who is trained by Guillermo Aguirre and was ridden by Jeremy Laprida, justified race favouritism to lead a trio of Chilean horses home to win the $500,000 Grade 1 listed contest by three and three-quarter lengths for his fifth victory in nine starts.

Victory for the winning colt, bred and raced by the Solari family’s Haras Don Alberto, came on the back similarly-dominant four and half length score in Chile’s top race, the Grade 1 listed El Derby at the Valparaiso Sporting Club.

Of the 15 runners from five nations, five of the first six horses home came from the host nation in the mile and a quarter (2000 metres) distance turf event with Ya Primo drawing well clear hitting the line in a course record of 1:56.68.

Second was Ya Primo’s stablemate Nombar, who was followed by Brown Storm, a further length adrift. Another Aguirre-trained horse Penn Rose finished fourth whilst El Expreso was fifth with the Argentinian horse Pure Nelson breaking the Chilean clean sweep by taking sixth place.

Longines Gran Premio Latinoamericano is South America’s most prestigious and valuable horse race and is the only Group 1 race that moves from country to country each year to be run at the major tracks in either Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru or Uruguay. Run by Organization Sudamericana de Formento del Sangre Pura de Carrera, the Latinoamericano is used to promote the sport not only in South America but internationally.

Sunday’s race was the 19th of a 26-race card at Club Hipico in Santiago; Club Hipico being the only track in South America that runs clockwise with a stretch that measures some three-eighths of a mile and its historic grandstand being the second-oldest in South America.

It has also been confirmed that the 2020 Longines Gran Premio Latinoamericano will take place at La Plata in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with a possible running at Gulfstream Park in 2021.