For Ayra Stark and Dulce Despertar, It’s Time to Seek Redemption in the U.S.

The Argentine fillies will make their second U.S. start when they line up at Colonial Downs

Ayra Stark will be making her turf debut / JUAN I. BOZZELLO

NEW KENT, Virginia (Special for Turf Diario).- The Colonial Downs meet is one of the highlights on the Maryland circuit, often attracting horses from across the country thanks to its generous purses and consistently top-class racing surfaces.

For Argentine trainer Ignacio Correas IV, it remains one of his favorite racetracks. Having spent considerable time working there for Sagamore Farm, he knows it inside out, and since establishing his base in Lexington, Kentucky, he has regularly shipped many of his horses back to what was once his home track.

Maintaining that tradition, Correas has targeted two upcoming races at Colonial Downs for his Argentine-bred fillies Ayra Stark (Cosmic Trigger) and Dulce Despertar (Fortify), both of whom he hopes will rebound strongly from underwhelming U.S. debuts.

The trainer has high expectations for Ayra Stark, who runs this Friday in race seven, a $75,000 allowance optional claiming event over 1800 meters (about 1 1/8 miles) on turf—a surface the Haras Juan Antonio homebred has never raced on.

“She really surprised us in her first start because she had been training so well,” Correas said of Ayra Stark, who will be ridden by French jockey Vincent Cheminaud. “This is a tougher race than that debut, but she continues to do everything right in the mornings, and our confidence remains intact.”

Listed at 30-1 on the morning line, the chestnut filly owned by Haymarket Farm LLC will face tough competition from the likes of Elysian Field (Hard Spun), Ireland’s Avenue Niel (Helmet), Dancing N Dixie (Neolithic), and Belle of Rights (Constitution).

Meanwhile, Dulce Despertar is entered for next Tuesday’s seventh race, another allowance optional claiming event, this time with a purse of $74,000 over 1600 meters (about one mile) on dirt. Also to be ridden by Cheminaud, the Vacación-bred filly will be looking to improve on her sixth-place finish at Churchill Downs in her U.S. debut.

Both Ayra Stark and Dulce Despertar will carry Argentine and South American hopes at Colonial Downs, each with more than enough talent to shine on the American stage.