When Things Get Tough, the Good Ones Deliver: El Exito Prevails in a Thrilling, Hard-Fought Mile
- Turf Diario
- Jun 29
- 2 min read
With a Brilliant Ride from Martín Valle, the José Cristóbal Blanco Trainee Took Command Early and Held Off Descamisado with Authority to Seal His Crowning Moment
Good horses always have a weapon at their disposal when things get tough. If the moment doesn’t allow for brilliance or an easy win, they’re capable of rolling up their sleeves and showing in a different way why they are superior.
El Exito, a very good horse indeed, drew upon all his class and champion’s heart to emerge victorious from a tricky scenario and reaffirm his status as the top miler on dirt at Hipódromo Argentino de Palermo, capturing Saturday’s G1 Gran Premio Estrellas Mile (1600m, dirt, ARS 37,000,000 to the winner) in a performance that lived up to the race’s billing as a must-see showdown.
For the Il Campione colt, it was also a measure of redemption. He erased the disappointment of his defeat in this same race last year—then held over San Isidro’s turf course. In both editions, his owners had to pay the supplementary fee to enter, as the chestnut is not nominated to the Estrellas series.
Under an unstoppable Martín Valle—who had already taken the Juvenile Fillies (G1) and Juvenile (G1) earlier on the card—El Exito was all business right from the break. He applied pressure from the opening bend to the speedy pacesetter Preston Boss (Holy Boss) and took command early in the stretch with plenty of racing still ahead.
Closers began to loom, and it was Descamisado (Cosmic Trigger) who emerged from the pack with a strong late rally to threaten the favorite. But that was when El Exito showed the extra gear that only the best possess, repelling the challenge to win by half a length. Another 1 1/2 lengths back came Earth God (Cosmic Trigger), who ran an excellent race to complete the trifecta. Final time was a sharp 1:35.27 after fractions of :23.92, :45.92, and 1:09.96.
For Valle, the win marked a memorable partnership with trainer José Cristóbal Blanco, mirroring their earlier victory with Charm (Strategos) in the Juvenile Fillies on an afternoon that will not soon be forgotten.
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