Brujo de Olleros confirmed for Dirt Mile

Last updated: 9/30/13 2:16 PM

South American import Brujo de Olleros will try to work his magic at Santa Anita
(Courtesy of Megan Jones/Team Valor)

A year after Animal Kingdom finished second to Horse of the Year Wise Dan in
the Breeders’ Cup Mile, Team Valor International will return to Santa Anita Park
and look to do one better with Brujo de Olleros in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile
on November 1.

A Group 1 winner and track record holder at a mile on dirt in Uruguay, Brujo
de Olleros finished a game second, beaten three-quarters of a length, to
even-money favorite Graydar in the Kelso Handicap on Saturday at Belmont Park.

The Brazilian-bred horse owned in partnership with Richard Santulli was wide
throughout after breaking from the outside post in the Kelso, which unfolded
with a slow pace that bunched up the field and never allowed jockey Alan Garcia
to save ground. According to Trakus data, Brujo de Olleros covered 25 more feet
than Graydar, who had not raced since emerging as one of the best older horses
in North America with consecutive victories in the Donn and New Orleans
Handicaps last winter.

“Losing ground and momentum took away from his closing punch, but he still
dug in very hard,” Team Valor CEO Barry Irwin said of Brujo de Olleros. “This
horse is legit and he proved it today. Great training job by Mr. Rick Mettee!”

Team Valor and Santulli purchased Brujo de Olleros in February 2012 after
catching wind of his performance in the Gran Premio Pedro Pineyrua in Uruguay.
Scoring by 14 1/4 lengths, the son of American Grade 1 winner Wild Event broke a
75-year-old track at Montevideo’s Maronas racecourse, blazing the mile in
1:33.27.

Brujo de Olleros struggled with the transition to the Northern Hemisphere
last year, as he never fully acclimated until he was given more time following a
pair of disappointing races. Once he resumed training, first with Bill Recio at
the Classic Mile in Ocala and then with Team Valor’s new private conditioner
Mettee, he consistently flashed the talent he showed in South America.

The liver chestnut returned with an excellent second-place finish in the
Donald LeVine Memorial Stakes at Parx, just missing by a neck over seven
furlongs. At that point, Team Valor and Mettee identified the Kelso as Brujo de
Olleros’ key test for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. As a stepping stone, they
picked out the Carl Hanford Memorial Stakes on August 19 at Delaware Park, and
Brujo de Olleros delivered a 6 1/2-length win over a mile and 70 yards and
around two turns.

Brujo de Olleros will prepare for the two-turn Dirt Mile at Mettee’s base in
Northern Maryland at Fair Hill Training Center. Garcia will retain the mount on
the five-year-old named after renowned Argentine trainer Francisco Maschio, who
was known as the “brujo” (wizard) of Olleros Street in Buenos Aires.

Team Valor won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf with a homebred, Pluck, in
2010 and the Breeders’ Cup Turf with Prized in 1989 under the stable’s previous
name, Clover Racing Stable.

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