Nanabush makes his U.S. debut, and expectations are high

The Argentine champion will take part next Friday in an optional claiming allowance over the turf at Colonial Downs

Nanabush will race over one mile on the turf next Friday / JUAN I. BOZZELLO

NEW KENT, Virginia (Special for Turf Diario).- Nanabush, one of Argentina and South America’s top prospects, will make her U.S. debut next Friday in a $50,000 optional claiming allowance over one mile on the turf at Colonial Downs, with $74,000 in total purses.

The 2024 Argentine Horse of the Year, a daughter of Il Campione, is trained by Ignacio Correas (h.), will be ridden by French jockey Vincent Cheminaud, and represents Happy Friday LLC, the U.S. satellite of her owner and breeder Haras Santa Inés. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts to enter her in earlier races, the chestnut finally found the ideal spot for her North American debut, avoiding the higher challenge that competing in graded stakes would have represented.

Inactive since mid-December, when she narrowly lost to El Que Sabe (Il Campione) in the Gran Premio Joaquín S. de Anchorena (G1), Nanabush boasts an impressive record: 9 wins from 17 starts, 8 of them at black-type level, highlighted by her victory in the Gran Premio Copa Diamante (G1)—over the same distance and turf surface she will face now at San Isidro.

Assigned post one and set to use Lasix for the first time, Nanabush has been training consistently at Keeneland, her trainer’s base. Her most recent breeze, on Tuesday, covered 800 meters in 48.80 seconds with ease.

The assignment awaiting the Argentine filly is of intermediate difficulty. Among her rivals is South Africa’s Distant Winter (What a Winter), a graded winner in her homeland who triumphed in her U.S. debut in an allowance at Delaware Park. Jorge Ruiz Díaz will be aboard.

Allamericanbeauty (Into Mischief) drops down from higher-level circuits seeking to regain the form she showed as a two-year-old, when Claude R. McGaughey III campaigned her in stakes such as the Florida Oaks (G3), Wonder Again Stakes (G2), and Saratoga Oaks Invitational (G3), though without much success.

Rounding out the field of seven are Aspen Dawn (Quality Road), The Amazing Mizzen (Mizzen Mast), Paint Me Perfect (Munnings), and Spotty Showers (Get Stormy).