Calle de Tierra shapes up as a leading contender for La Plata’s Clásico Santiago Luro

The daughter of Strategos will be aiming to get back to winning ways; the card will also feature the Especial Iniciación, which will mark the debut of the season for 2-year-old colts at the track

Calle de Tierra, La Plata’s Top Sprinting Filly of 2025 / HLP

A compact but appealing card awaits this Thursday at the city’s racecourse, with a pair of black-type events providing the highlights: the Clásico Santiago Luro (1200m, dirt) and the Especial Iniciación (1000m, dirt).

In the former, for fillies and mares aged three and up under weight-for-age conditions, Calle de Tierra will be looking to get back to winning ways. The daughter of Strategos brings solid recent form, having finished a game second—just a neck behind La Meninha (Le Blues)—in the Clásico Asociación Cooperativa de Criadores de Caballos de Sangre Pura de Carrera (L) on Dardo Rocha (G1) day.

She boasts an enviable résumé and, not long ago, was the standout sprinting filly on the La Plata scene. Back at an ideal trip, she figures to be prominently placed from the outset as she aims to make her presence felt.

Among her main rivals are La de Dudi (Aspire) and Verdadera Pass (Distinctiv Passion), second and third respectively when beaten by La Farce (Emmanuel) in the Clásico General Alvear (G3) over 1000 meters at Palermo. They were separated by two lengths that afternoon (with the winner scoring by 1 1/2), and both bring proven experience around the La Plata oval.

Foto Mental (Leofric), whose form has been steady and on the upswing, and Texana Rye (Nashville Texan), winner of back-to-back allowance races, will try to spring a surprise, while Nevada Top (Puerto Escondido) appears a notch behind the leading contenders on paper.

Later on the card, the spotlight turns to the juveniles as the Especial Iniciación marks the first start at La Plata for this season’s 2-year-old colts. Marcelo Sueldo sends out a pair of intriguing prospects in debutant El Brigadier (Mask) and Full Lujoso (Full Mast), who was fifth—5 3/4 lengths behind El Pirata (Il Campione)—on debut in a turf dash at San Isidro.

Fantoche Pass (Distinctiv Passion), also trained by Sueldo but saddled by Juan Pablo E. Díaz, finished fifth in his first start at Palermo, while Gaturro Kin Ha (Have At It) brings respectable credentials from San Isidro.