Joe Talamo finds it easier to ride Vamo a Galupiar than he does to
pronounce her name. He’s got a lot of company. Freely translated, it
means “Let’s go gallop.”
But be that as it may, the 22-year-old rider expects another
solid effort from the Chilean-bred mare when he rides her in the Grade
II, $150,000 Buena Vista Handicap for older fillies and mares at one
mile turf on Presidents’ Day, Monday, Feb. 20.
Talamo guided the 5-year-old chestnut to a last-to-first victory
in the ungraded Megahertz Stakes on Jan. 21, winning the one-mile grass
race by 3 ¼ lengths at 11-1 for Neil Drysdale, who trains the daughter
of Proud Citizen for owner Robert Evans of Stamford, Conn.
“What I love about her, she has a turn of foot that’s out of this
world,” Talamo said. “I was supposed to ride her in the Wilshire
(Handicap at Hollywood Park last April; she finished seventh under David
Flores), but I had a previous call on another horse that we couldn’t
get off of—I forget who it was—but I worked her before the Wilshire and
she always did have that real nice turn of foot.
“She actually outworked Bourbon Bay the work before she won the
Megahertz (six furlongs on Santa Anita’s turf course in 1:17 on Jan.
14). It was slow time but she came home in like 22 and three. She’s got a
tremendous turn of foot, which helps her out a lot.
“She’ll be tough in the Buena Vista. Neil’s done a great job with
her, slowly bringing her along so that she’s developed into a real nice
mare.”
Probable for the Buena Vista: Andina, no rider; Cambina, no
rider; City to City, Corey
Nakatani; So Belle, no rider; Strawberrydaiquiri, Joel Rosario; Up In
Time, no rider; Vamo a Galupiar, Talamo; and Wild Mia, no rider