Copyright © 2002/2005 - all right reserved

Gran Premio Nacional 2003 (Harness-races in Spain)

Italian trotters (standardbreds) come back in strength

So, the "Varenne" phenomenon was not a flash in the pan, and the Isle of Majorca has not been spared by the in force of Italian trotters on racecourses in the whole world. In the Balearic Isles, for nearly fifty years, no italian trotter had been imported and the fresh stock of this speedy and manageable trotter were starting to cruelly make default at the time when the blood of Sharif di Jesolo was bestowing on world trotting a nobility that only horses like Speedy Crown, Super Bowl, or Kerjacques had been able to do. Thus, the last italian trotters in the memories of spanish turf enthusiasts had names like Diaspro, Petronio, but especially Frisso who became a classic stallion (see Gran Premio Nacional historic). It was from after the war, up to half-way through the sixties, with the exploits of the famous Tornese helping of course, to promote this secular breed. It was necessary to wait until the beginning of the new millenium for an Italian trotting stallion to disembark again in Palma de Mallorca. At the end of 2001, Jamil Boukarabila, a very active broker on all the european horse markets, decided, in fact, to offer the Balearic Isles the opportunity to use a trotting stallion which was a son of the great Sharif di Jesolo, one of the very last sons of the sire who had died several years before.

Peril di Rosa, a stallion of the future

Peril di Rosa (Sharif di Jesolo- Frosty Lb- Bourbon) has arrived in the Guiem Barcelo' stables in Manacor, where he has proved his class in racing, in spite of his twelve years and an already prestigious career in Italy, being classified in several to category events in Spain. Destined exclusively for reproduction from spring 2003, a role he excels in as much by his exceptional fertility (100%) as well as his talent for exercising a natural mounting both in hand and in liberty (!!) Having begun his stallion career in Spain in 2002, his first offsprings were born in spring 2003 and they agreably surprised both by their perfect morphology, very much in the Sharif di Jesolo type (bay, star on head, very solid on their feet) and their very imposing size if we compare them to Peril di Rosa who is not very big. In 2003, this italian stallion of great class (a faultless pedigree and greatly sought after the present time) was able to sire a dozen mares which should assure him of a much more active 2003 season, as the second season of a stallion is often the most critical. Breeders of trotters in Spain, having available a choice of french and american stallions of the most prestigious origins, are happy to be able to count on the new blood of Sharif di Jesolo and Bourbon, which will allow them to avoid too strong an inbreeding, especially as far as concerns the descendants of Speedy Crown and Super Bowl who are legion and we know that they marry very well with the sons and daughters of Sharif di Jesolo.


 

Heliana honours Peril di Rosa

By winning the Gran Premio Nacional 2003, the most prestigious event in the career of a spanish trotter, Heliana showed herself worthy of the breeding of the Italian trotter as the stallion Peril di Rosa is the only one representing natural reproduction in Mallorca.

In effect, Heliana is the daughter of the beautiful Italian Profumo OM, a trotter of great class with prestigious Americans origins and out of Allevamento Orsi Mangelli breeding farm, who won the Derby of Rome (in particular) and 527'000 euros after a short but effective career.

"Heliana's victory in the 2003 Gran Premio Nacional couldn't have happened at a better time to indicate the value of Peril di Rosa's young stallion career "stated Jamil Boukarabila, the manager of the Guiem Barcelo stable in the Balearic Islands- "and Spanish breeders must well realise that the precociousness of italian trotters and especially their manageability to take on tracks with very tight bends like those in Manacor (645 metres a lap), are great qualities !!

The Son Pardo' Race-track is at its most successful

For about ten years, the Consell de Mallorca (government of the autonomous community of the Balearics) and its political forces have worked in favour of trotting races on their territory in a remarkable way. The Son Pardo racecourse which boasts a track of 1000 meters of quality sand, coverted to the european standard since 2000, has only known such success with the island's public during the Gran Premio Nacional 2003, the trotting derby for three-year-olds in Spain.

Everybody did their bit, as much in the adversity of an epidemic which prevented the racetracks from opening for nearly two months as in favour of a first summer sunday spent with the family, and the small world of Spanish trotting succeeded in having full house on 22nd June 2003. The racecourse outskirts had never been so full of interminable lines of cars. From the adjacent road, autoroute, it could be easily seen that a great festival was taking place and that it was the place to be seen. Powerful representatives of the political parties as well as international football stars all crowded towards the structures of this Son Pardo racecourse which has a tormented history.

In fact, Son Pardo had been conceived as a giant project in the sixties and its promoters had been criticised for decades, and all the more as the upper stand structure had never been finished. But now that sufficient funds have been found and the public is turning up in large numbers, people have stopped criticising and begun praising.

At the height of the afternoon of the Gran Premio Nacional, the stands were full (photo) and all spectators were able to appreciate the great practicality of the Son Pardo racecourse, not only the floral and decorative areas in the inside of the track, but also the well-built paddocks and the stables distributed in autonomous units respecting a half-century of trotting history in Spain; the modernness of Son Pardo has not betrayed the original conception of its pioneers.

More than ten thousand spectators for this 2003 Gran Premio Nacional proved that trotting races (?) constitute the second most popular sporting spectacle of the island, just after football. The people of Artà, Manacor and Palma, all the clans of breeders, trainers, owners or simple fans all gathered around an exceptional event. The native filly Heliana daughter of an italian stallion just won the right race in front of her public.
 

What Jos Verbeeck says from Heliana

At the meeting of Avenches, on the swiss racecourse of IENA on the occasion of the "Prix du Président" won by Simb Moonrunner and Ulf Nordin, Jos Verbeeck gave some news about Heliana to his colleague and friend Jamil Boukarabila: "the spanish filly is being trained in Paris. She flies ! She has just done 1'14" but so easily ! What a pity she has not got enough winnings, otherwise she would have her first chance in the Gran Premio Orsi Mangelli at the beginning of November in Milan." To this, Jamil Boukarabila replied "I have never doubted the class of this filly, for what she did in the spanish Derby in Palma- I was there- was completely exceptional: to clock 1'17" over 2200 meters breaking away 40 meters in the last straight is a unique exploit in the anals of spanish trotting. Moreover, this year, races in the Balearic Isles have been stopped due to an epidemic of rhinopneumonia, which resulted in approaching the Derby event without the best preparation."

GRAN PREMIO NACIONAL 2003
75'000 euros - 3 ans- 2200 mètres- autostart

HELIANA (Profumo OM- Emiliana) is owned by Cuadra Es Pou des Rafal and is trained by Damian Ginard.

PALMARES DU GRAN PREMIO NACIONAL
(Les vainqueurs jusqu'à sa création en 1934)