Charles LoPresti may not have Wise Dan for this year’s Breeders’ Cup, but the Keeneland-based trainer will still be represented in the championship event with the filly Salama, a Peruvian filly that will make her U.S. debut in the $2,000,000 Breeders’ Cup Distaff (gr. I) on October 30th at Keeneland.
Owned by Stud Santa Maria, the three-year-old Salama has compiled an excellent record in her native country, winning five of eight races and placing in three others. On June 21st, she won the Clasico Cesar del Rio (Per-III), a “Win and You’re In” for the Distaff that triggered her trip to the U.S.
According to the Keeneland Barn Notes for October 1st, Salama was shipped to LoPresti’s barn on July 27th with the Breeders’ Cup as the goal. “They [Salama’s connections] were looking for a trainer who is based at Keeneland most of the year so she would not have to ship around before the Breeders’ Cup,” said Fernando Macchiavello, a Peruvian native who lives in Lexington and represents Stud Santa Maria and assists other horsemen from Peru who are involved in the Thoroughbred industry.
Overall, LoPresti has been impressed with his new stable star. “She has been push button since Day One,” LoPresti said. “She is a big, tall filly and has done everything right. It is like she has been here all along. She is a class act.”
“She was knocked out for a couple of days from the trip, but after four or five days she was bucking and squealing.” LoPresti added. “Since the first of August she was pretty much on the same seven-day schedule as Wise Dan.”
On the morning of October 1st, Salama breezed a half-mile in a bullet :48 4/5 at Keeneland, starting off with fractions of :12 3/5 and :25 1/5 before galloping out five furlongs in 1:02 2/5 and six furlongs in 1:06 1/5.
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