Extreme Heat and Slow Betting Handle Mark San Isidro’s Wednesday Card; The Great Jazz and Packam Score

Wednesday’s card at San Isidro took place at an impossible time, a critical point to which management must begin to pay closer attention

The Great Jazz Makes a Strong Return on the San Isidro Dirt / JUAN I. BOZZELLO

Extreme Heat, Low Handle, and Promising Wins by The Great Jazz and Packam at San Isidro

Between the heat, the summer season, and a lack of quality—though it wasn't the worst of days, to be fair—Wednesday's card at San Isidro produced a meager result at the windows. The total handle reached 428,548,936 pesos, averaging $30,610,638 across 14 races, levels dangerously close to those seen at La Plata.

As a first observation, starting the card shortly after 1:00 PM, when forecasts a week in advance predicted insufferable heat, did not seem like the wisest decision.

It is hard to believe that in this day and age, it is still not understood that competing in 38-degree temperatures (100°F)—and significantly higher on the track—is not healthy for the horses or the professionals. Would anyone in their right mind go play tennis, for example, at 1:30 PM on such a day? No. Clearly not. However, as with so many things, Argentine management remains determined to change nothing until something happens, which is simply a matter of time.

Aside from the victory of Herd Immunity (Forge) in the Handicap Lombardo and the double spill in the eleventh race—both covered separately in this edition—the day featured a couple of interesting winners in the allowance ranks,starting with The Great Jazz, who overcame a layoff of more than 5 months with a convincing victory.

Dropping into the "alternativa opcional" category, the son of The Great Day and Miss Mat Music (Numerous)justified his heavy favoritism ($1.70) in the Premio Cleopatra Kal, defeating Smilytop (Top One Scape) by 3 1/2 lengths in a respectable time of 1:11.42.

Juan Pablo Paoloni was aboard the Pablo Sahagián trainee, who carries the colors of Stud Mayflower and was bred at Haras Firmamento. For the bay, it is now 2 wins from 4 starts, with hopes for continued growth now that his layoff is behind him.

Also impressive was the performance of Packam (Daddy Long Legs and Polly, by Equal Stripes; Haras Abolengo),who built on a promising debut to break her maiden by a comfortable 6 lengths in the Premio Encantada Glory (1200m, dirt).

The duo of jockey Gustavo Calvente and trainer Nicolás Martín Ferro shined with the Stud Toroquemerorepresentative, who stopped the clock in 1:10.76.