El Brujo scores in Perryville

El Brujo is now two-for-two in the United States (EquiSport Photos) Windways Farm’s homebred EL BRUJO (Candy Ridge [Arg]) saved ground along the rail during Saturday’s $150,000 Perryville S. (G3) at Keeneland, allowed his rivals to pull away in early stretch, then rallied to take over from the between horses and draw clear by 1 1/4 lengths on the wire. Jockey Edgar Prado took the mount after named rider Robby Albarado was injured in a spill one race earlier and guided the Malcolm Pierce charge through about seven furlongs in 1:25 4/5 on the Polytrack. “It (the trip) was beautiful,” Prado said. “He (trainer Malcolm Pierce) told me a little bit about the horse before the race. He said, ‘As long as he’s comfortable let him be there until you press the pedal.’ That’s exactly what I did. I was just waiting, biding my time, and luckily a hole opened up and he shot through there.” Sent off the 5-2 second pick in the seven-horse field, El Brujo paid $7.20, $4 and $3.40 for taking his second straight graded win. On September 26 at Turfway Park, the bay gelding was a half-length victor of the Kentucky Cup Sprint (G3) in his first start outside of Woodbine. The Ontario-bred also owns wins in the Queenston S. and Achievement S. over the Toronto venue, and placed in the Coronation Futurity, Clarendon S., Vandal S. and Swynford S. during his juvenile season. Now boasting $505,956 in lifetime earnings, El Brujo moved his career line to 13-6-4-1.

“He’s never run on anything but synthetic (racetracks) and he’s done good for
us,” Pierce said. “He just doesn’t want to go too far; he doesn’t want to run
two turns. I think this is as far as he wants to go, maybe a mile around one
turn would be the maximum.

“We’re going to take him home (to Canada). He probably deserves a little rest
now, and we’ll freshen him up for next season. He’ll be a handy four-year-old
Canadian-bred.”

Warrior’s Reward (Medaglia d’Oro) held a head advantage over Conchacer (Congaree)
through fractions of :22 4/5 and :46, but began to fade heading into the stretch
run. Conchacer took command while setting the three-quarter split in 1:10 1/5,
but couldn’t withstand the rush of El Brujo, who angled off the rail and split
horses in midstretch. The winner easily outpaced his rivals, while Not for
Silver (Not for Love) just got his nose in front of Conchacer to take second.

As the 7-1 fourth choice, Not for Silver returned $6.40 and $4.20, and ended
$47.80 exacta. Conchacer was worth $8.60 as the 22-1 longest shot on the board,
and the trifecta gave back $466. Evolutionist (El Prado [Ire]) followed in
fourth just another nose back, and completed the 1-6-4-5 superfecta that totaled
$2,414. Warrior’s Reward came next, but was pulled up in the gallop out and
vanned off the track. Rounding out the order of finish were His Greatness
(Honour and Glory) and Keechi Bullet (Red Bullet).

“He was going perfect and then he just took a bad step,” said Calvin Borel,
who has the mount on Warrior’s Reward. “It is hard to say right now. It happened
right when he turned for home and switched leads. Maybe it is nothing. Maybe it
is his ankle, because he had a cut on his bandage where maybe he hit it so hard.
I just got off him (after pulling up).”

Out of the winning Devil’s Bag mare Enchanted Spell, El Brujo is a
half-brother to stakes victress Galadriel (Ascot Knight), herself the dam of
stakes winner and Grade 2-placed Peisinoe (Yes It’s True), and an unraced
juvenile named Special Ed M D (Stormy Atlantic). His second dam is Black-Eyed
Susan S. (G2) heroine Dame Mysterieuse (Bold Forbes), and he comes from the
family of Grade 2 winners C’est L’ Amour (Thunder Gulch), Madeo (Mizzen Mast)
and Herboriste (GB) (Hernando [Fr]).