I am in Buenos Aires this week to cover the Gran Premio Internacional Carlos Pelligrini for HRTV. This has been quite an adventure and I thought I would share a few of my impressions, and a bit of inside information.
Buenos Aires is a lively place and a perfect destination this time of year for the horse-lover. Not only did the World Polo Championships take place across the street from Palermo Racecourse last weekend, but I spotted a beautiful show jumping club near downtown Buenos Aires, and San Isidro Racecourse will host four Group 1 races this Saturday, including the Pelligrini.
I haven’t practiced my Spanish for a while, since I was exercising horses at Santa Anita, but it is improving quickly. My host, Jose Nelson of the Argentine Jockey Club, has been a big help, acting as an interpreter for the more casual interviews and driving me all over the place.
The property of San Isidro is enormous. The racecourse itself is a 1 3/4 mile turf oval with a dirt track inside of it. With this layout the Pelligrini is contested on turf at a 1-turn mile and a half.
The horses do not train on the “pista principal” (main track), but instead have access to a turf training track with four dirt tracks inside of it. Training hours are similar to the states, but the picture looks totally different.
As you may know, racehorses in Argentina, and even the ponies that go to the track with them, are ridden in only bareback pads. Riders, who are also the grooms, sit down on the horses backs while trotting and galloping around the training tracks. Many horses wear roached manes, and all the horses have a long mane only at the withers, for the jockeys to hold on to when breaking from the starting gate.
I am sending back interviews and videos of the contenders via satellite daily. Tune in to HRTV throughout the next few days for more on the Pelligrini. We will be showing it live at 5:40 ET on HRTV, and I will be catching up live with the connections both before and after the race.
More on the contenders tomorrow.
Ciao
