Ever Rider won the Clasico Belgrano (Arg-II) in an upset Friday evening at Palermo in Buenos Aires, earning a trip to the $500,000 Breeders' Cup Marathon (gr. II) Nov. 1 at Santa Anita Park.
Under Eduardo Ortego Pavon, the 4-year-old Rider Stripes horse seized the lead at the start and held for a neck victory from Sunny Rex, with Es Corinofinishing third in the 15-horse field.
Soy Carambolo, the 2-1 favorite, disappointed in a 10th-place finish following his runner-up effort behind Ordak Dan in the Gran Premio 25 de Mayo (Arg-I), a "Win and You're In" race for the $3 million Breeders' Cup Turf (gr. IT).
Trained by Juan Bianchi for owner Alberto Ibáñez, Ever Rider won at 28-1 odds. He was timed in 2:36.70 for the 2,500-meter (about 1 9/16 miles) race that is part of the international Breeders' Cup Challenge "Win & You're In" series.
Ever Rider's connections said they intend to send their runner for the 1 3/4-mile Marathon.
"I will go with the horse to Santa Anita and will be a great pleasure for us," Ibáñez said after the race.
Under the "Win and You're In" format, the Breeders' Cup will pay the entry fee and provide a $40,000 travel allowance to the winning stable to start Ever Rider in the Marathon.
"When I can put him on the front, he is a different horse,” said Pavon, a native of Paraguay and one of Argentina’s top riders. “He won with me by 13 lengths two races back. I can drive the pace and that was the key for the win."
Last year, Calidospocio won the Belgrano from Giacom before capturing the Marathon at Santa Anita to give Argentina it's first-ever Breeders' Cup victory. Giacom finished sixth in this year's edition following a six-month layoff.
Bred by Luis M. Pittaro and San Jose del Socorro SA., Ever Rider has won four wins, three seconds, and three thirds from 23 career starts.
Ever Rider is by Argentine group II winner Rider Stripes, a 7-year-old son of Candy Stripes, who was runner-up in the 2005 Nacional (Arg-I), or Argentine Derby. He is out of the unraced Il Corsaro mare Alleg Dancer.
The Breeders' Cup Challenge series continues June 23 with a pair of qualifying races for the Turf: the Takarazuka Kinen (Jpn-I) at Hanshin Racecourse in Japan and the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (Fr-I) in France.