Winner of South America’s Most Prestigious Race to Gain Automatic Berth into Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf (Photo credit: San Isidro Racecourse).
The Breeders’ Cup, in conjunction with Hipodromo San Isidro, today announced that next month’s Gran Premio International Carlos Pellegrini (G1), South America’s most prestigious race, will be the first qualifying “Win and You’re In” event of the 2019 Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series.
The Breeders’ Cup Challenge is an international series of stakes races whose winners receive automatic starting positions and fees paid into a corresponding race of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships.
Run continuously since 1887 at San Isidro in Buenos Aires, the Gran Premio Carlos Pellegrini is a 1 ½-mile race for 3-year-olds and up. The 2018 race, which annually attracts the top horses from all over South America and draws crowds of more than 70,000 each year, will be run on Saturday, December 15. The Carlos Pellegrini will replace the Gran Premio 25 de Mayo (G1), run each year on May 25, as the designated “Win and You’re In” race for the Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf in Argentina.
2019 Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita
The Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf is a Grade 1 race for 3-year-olds and up, run at weight-for-age conditions, and contested at 1 ½ miles on the turf course. Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California is the host of the 2019 Breeders’ Cup World Championships.
“Each year we evaluate our Challenge Series schedule and try to select races that will bring the best horses to the World Championships, and working with officials at San Isidro, we are delighted that the historic Gran Premio International Carlos Pellegrini will be joining our 2019 series,” said Dora Delgado, Breeders’ Cup Senior Vice President of Racing and Nominations. “Over the years, the Carlos Pellegrini has been a magnet in attracting the best older horses in South America to San Isidro. The December date also gives the winner and its connections a longer time period to prepare for the 2019 World Championships at Santa Anita Park.
“On behalf of the Argentine Jockey Club, it gives me great pleasure and with profound gratitude that we accept this special invitation from the Breeders’ Cup for the winning horse of our Gran Premio International Carlos Pellegrini be included in the Breeders’ Cup World Championships and the Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf be run on November 2, 2019 to at Santa Anita Park in California,” said Miguel E. Crotto, President of the Argentine Jockey Club.
