By Liane Crossley
Special to NKyTribune
The Breeders’ Cup World Championships on Oct. 30 and 31 at Keeneland is a homecoming for horses. More than half of the participants were born and raised in Central Kentucky before embarking on travels that will come full circle when they come back. One of those is Salama, a 3-year-old Kentucky-bred filly who has returned from South America.
Salama, whose name is a greeting that is Arabic for peace, is no stranger to Keeneland. She has lived there since July, raced over the track and changed hands twice via Keeneland’s auction ring. With a graceful presence, the big bay filly will compete in the $2 million Distaff on Oct. 30.
Salama’s story
Salama made her first appearance at Keeneland when she arrived at the 2013 January sale a few weeks before her first birthday. She returned for that year’s September yearling sale where buyers from Peru were drawn to her demeanor and balanced conformation. In the name of Maria’s Stable, she was purchased for $13,000, a drop from her January price of $20,000. She was exported to Lima where she joined the Maria Santa Stable of Thessa Dyer.
Dyer and her family have been involved with Thoroughbred racehorses and international show jumpers for more than 40 years. Their commitment to the international show jumping circuit includes a training facility next to the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington.
The Dyer family has been coming to Lexington yearling sales at Keeneland and Fasig-Tipton for about 20 years and they typically purchase about five prospects per year. In addition to Salama, their successes with budget-priced young horses includes Al Khali, a $15,000 buy at the 2007 Keeneland September yearling sale. After impressive wins in Peru, he was sold to American interests and repatriated to the United States where he repeatedly won at the highest levels and banked more than $1 million.
Salama adapted well to the Southern Hemisphere and her role as a racer. She quite literally earned her way home by winning a top shelf race on June 21 in Lima in which prize money included expenses to the Breeders’ Cup and a guaranteed spot in the starting line-up. Seeking an American-based trainer to manage her career, her connections looked no further than Lexington-based Charlie LoPresti.
LoPresti and his wife Amy famously prepared fan favorite Wise Dan for consecutive Breeders’ Cup victories and Horse of the Year titles from their barn on the Rice Road section of Keeneland where all 2015 Breeders’ Cup entrants will be housed. Salama arrived at the LoPresti barn in late July and acclimated seamlessly. Before her arrival, she had been reschooled in Peru to American-style conditioning.
In South America, Thoroughbreds wear saddles generally only for races or fast workouts. For light training, they are ridden bareback. Salama received lessons in being ridden daily with a saddle and going to the track alongside another horse in advance of her return.
“She has been push button since Day One,” LoPresti said. “She is a big, tall filly and has done everything right. It is like she has been here all along. She is a class act.”
After racing exclusively at the track in Lima, Salama made her homeland debut on Oct. 10 at Keeneland. Near the back of the pack early, she made a late rally to finish a close second. She galloped out strongly to indicate she is well prepared for her biggest challenge yet in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Julien Leparoux, who annually ranks at or near the top of the Keeneland jockey standings, is scheduled to ride her. She likely will be a longshot in a race considered wide open if the nation’s best female racer Beholder opts to compete against male rivals in the $5-million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Oct. 31.
“The owners are realistic,” LoPresti said. “She won a ‘Win and You’re In’ race, so it is all paid for, so why not take a chance?”
Liane Crossley is a freelance writer based in Lexington. This story was first published by NKyTribune’s media partner, KyForward.com.