Frateli La Vita. (Jaime Cortez/Photooficial)
3-Year-Old Gains Automatic Berth into FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile in World Championships at Del Mar
Breeders’ Cup Release
SANTIAGO, Chile — Rey Santino Diez’s 3-year-old Frateli La Vita (CHI) surged to the front in the final 100 yards to win Sunday’s 1 ¼-mile Gran Premio Club Hipico Falabella on turf at Club Hipico de Santiago. Ridden by Luis Torres to a half-length win over Quimera Ideal (CHI), Frateli La Vita earned an automatic starting position, and fees paid, into the US$2 million FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1) through the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series: Win and You’re In.
Now in its 18th season, the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series is an international series of 82 stakes races whose winners receive automatic starting positions and fees paid into a corresponding race at the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, which is scheduled to be held Nov. 1-2 at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, California.
Trained by Luis Gutierrez, Frateli La Vita, a son of Seeking the Dia, completed the 1 ¼ miles in 2:03.18 for his third win in 14 starts.
Sent away at 7-1 in the 13-horse field, Frateli La Vita settled in ninth place along the backstretch, while Auntman (CHI) and the filly Ionosfera (CHI) set the pace through the first half mile. Moving out of the far turn, Wild Coast (CHI) took the lead briefly but was soon overtaken by even-money favorite Wentrue (CHI) in the center of the course. At the same time, longshot Quimera Ideal, saving ground along the rail, mounted a challenge to the front. Seeing an opening, Torres boldly moved Frateli La Vita past Wentrue and set his sights on 14-1 Quimera Ideal, who had come off the rail in the final stages. Torres urged Frateli La Vita into the lead and held off the late charge from another longshot Medjool (CHI), in third at the wire. Ionosfera finished fourth, followed by Wild Coast in fifth. Wentrue faded to ninth.
Frateli La Vita won his first race since taking last July’s 1 ½-mile Raimundo Valdes Cuevas at Club Hipico. He came into the Club Hipico Falabella off an eighth-place finish in the Grade 1 El Derby at Valparaiso on March 17. Frateli La Vita was bred in Chile by Haras Don Alberto.
As a part of the benefits of the Challenge Series, Breeders’ Cup will pay the entry fees for the Frateli La Vita to start in the FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile. Breeders’ Cup will also provide a travel allowance for all starters based outside of North America to compete in the World Championships.
Frateli La Vita joins Charles Dickens (SAF), winner of the Jan. 6 L’Ormarins King’s Plate in South Africa, as the first two horses to gain free starting berths in the 2024 FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile through the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series.
