Three horses from Venezuela cleared quarantine and arrived at Gulfstream Park over the weekend to prepare for the $690,000 Clasico Internacional del Caribe Sunday, Dec. 8.
Gran Omero is a winner of nine of 10 starts (eight stakes) and most recently beat Tap Daddy in the Clasico Propietarios La Rinconada (G1). Tap Daddy won the 2017 Dixiana Bourbon Stakes (G3) at Keeneland and 2018 James Murphy at Pimlico. Gran Omero, is trained by Rey Yanez. He will run in the $300,000 Clasico del Caribe.
The Brother Slew, a 3-year-old also being pointed for the Clasico del Caribe, is coming off third-place finishes in the Jockey Club de Venezuela (G1) and Invitacional del Caribe (G1). Trained by Paul Valery, The Brother Slew is the winner of the Copa Iraqui in July.
Go Sexy Go, who will enter the $100,000 Copa Dama del Caribe, defeated older mares including Venezuelan Triple Crown-winning filly Afrodita de Padua. Ramon Garcia trains.
This will be the third consecutive year Gulfstream plays host to the Clasico Internacional del Caribe. In 2017, Gulfstream became the first facility to host the event outside Latin America or the Caribbean since its inception in 1966.
The Clasico Internacional del Caribe truly brings an international event to Gulfstream with the highlight of the afternoon the $300,000 Clasico del Caribe for 3-year-olds.
The event is similar to a soccer game, with drums beating, vuvuzelas blowing, flags flying and the crowd is chanting.
Horses, horsemen, owners, grooms and racing fans arrive from Mexico, Ecuador, Panama, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic to prepare for the event. The race is also popular with top U.S. jockeys John Velazquez, Javier Castellano, Jose Ortiz, Irad Ortiz Jr., Edgard Zayas and Emisael Jaramille.
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