Curious Song and The Great Village: two names to watch heading into the peak juvenile season

Curious Song y The Great Village: dos nombres para seguir de cerca de cara a la temporada fuerte de los 2 años

The Great Village and Curious Song impressed over the mile at Palermo / JUAN I. BOZZELLO

esides the double of handicaps, the Hipódromo Argentino de Palermo’s unusual Thursday card featured significant opportunities for juveniles, with mile races for colts and fillies alike, both targeting the Miguel Cané (G2) and General Luis María Campos (G2) classics — key prep races toward the Pollas.

The debutant Curious Song made a strong statement among the colts, while in her third start, The Great Village shone among the fillies — both representing Haras Firmamento.

In the Premio Latency, named after a legendary figure of modern Argentine turf, Curious Song produced a powerful late rally on the stretch, settling well off the pace for most of the trip before advancing wide around the turn.

At the 150-meter pole, the bay colt from Stud Disco Eterno caught Easy Going (Il Campione) and pulled clear to win by three-quarters of a length over Herald News (Equal Stripes), who also showed promise in his debut. The favorite, Friends are Friends (Cityscape), was always wide, appeared uncomfortable, and finished a distant sixth in an uncharacteristic performance.

Ridden by Kevin Banegas and trained by Nicolás Martín Ferro, Curious Song stopped the clock at 1:37.43. He is by the multiple champion Sixties Song (Sixties Icon), out of Curiosa Craf (Mastercraftsman), a full sister to G3 winner Curitiba Nistel (Van Nistelrooy) and part of the notable Mucura (Hot Dust) family.

Later on, Firmamento celebrated again thanks to The Great Village, a promising filly from the interesting first crop of The Great Day (Harlan’s Holiday), who took the Premio Kalithea. Third in her debut in the Clásico Juan S. Boucau and then disappointing in her second start, the filly trained by Nicolás Gaitán improved through the race to take command in the stretch and finish 1 1/2 lengths clear of Sexbomb (Nicholas), following 1:39.30.

The Great Village is out of Aldeana Jane (Johannesburg), a G2-placed mare who previously produced the consistent Master Jane (Mastercraftsman), runner-up in the Clásico Correas (G2).