SEPI Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales

• In the Breeders’ Cups, El Inca sprang the surprise among males, while Arrigunaga beat the females.

• Ricardo Sousa consolidates his second place in the records with a fantastic triple win, after winning riding El Inca, Arrigunaga and Loup Boutin.

A beautiful race meeting for celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the Hipódromo de La Zarzuela; sun, a nice temperature, and a great deal of visitors enjoying a special Sunday in the capital.

There were no surprises at the Gran Premio 75º Aniversario de La Zarzuela (1941 – 2016) but nevertheless, it was exciting, and it left a name to remember: Madrileño. The horse from the stable Cuadra Popular did everything right, and he won with ease, after making a very comfortable race, running in the middle of the pack, which followed the rhythm set by her stable’s mate Andalucía. Once on the home stretch, Madrileño began an easy progression on the middle of the track, helped by his jockey Vaclav Janacek until he reached first the finish line without trouble, although Almorox made a strong attack running by the rails from the tail of the pack, winning the silver in this great prize, more than two lengths behind the winner, whose trainer is Guillermo Arizkorreta. The third place went to Argüero, more than one length behind the second classified, who once again made a great race.

The day’s surprise took place at the Copa de Criadores – Manuel Delgado Sánchez – Arjona with the El Inca’s victory, which is under the training of Tiago Martins and is the property of the stable Cuadra Siempre Fani; he managed, against all the odds, to impose himself – under the reins of Ricardo Sousa – in a race which was led at all times by Nube Negra, whom overtook in the last minute after a beautiful close fight on the last 200 meters; they arrived to the finish line just one neck apart. More than two lengths behind, Monzalvos completed the winning threesome, which recorded a 702.80€ payout.

Ricardo Sousa was the meeting’s protagonist among jockeys, since he achieved three excellent victories, thus consolidating his second place in the record, with 50 wins. He won in the first three races, first with El Inca, followed by the favorite Arrigunaga, from the stable Cuadra ACM and trained by Ana Ímaz, in the Copa de Criadores – Javier Navarro Reverter, in a beautiful race, in which he won running by the rails, overtaking Star Wars – who took the head of the pack at the start of the race - by one length, while the third place went to Maramer, one neck behind the second classified. Sousa achieved his third victory of the meeting riding Loup Boutin in the Premio Maspalomas after a very comfortable race among those at the head of the pack, getting ahead of all when entering the home stretch and withstanding the strong attack from Mayrit, who arrived second running by the rails and half a length behind the winner; this horse is under the training of José Carlos Cerqueira and the property of the stable Cuadra Belén. Finally, Natagaima made a strong sprint by the rails, and arrived third, one length behind.

Victory of Tío Luis in the Premio Infanta Isabel in an extremely close arrival together with Wad Vision, who stayed at the head of the pack during all the race. The horse trained by Juan Luis Maroto (stable Cuadra San Julio) imposed himself – splendidly rode by Borja Fayos – progressing from the last but one place, and without having almost a gap, he got through on the middle lanes, crossing first the finish line, one neck ahead of his close pursuer. Dagoberto arrived third, less than one length behind. This winning threesome recorded a payout of 265.30€.

A beautiful sprint at the Premio Chicawa in which the three first classified hold an exciting fight along the last 300 meters, which resulted in Igollo de Camargo (Alberto Carrasco – Cuadra Odisea) being first, with Emilien Révolte on the saddle, followed by Valiant Blue who run on the middle lanes, two lengths behind the winner, while the third place went to Gym Shoes who also run in the middle lanes, less than one length behind the second.

The race meeting ended with the victory, from start to finish, of Divisa Azul in the Premio Hebercourt, rode by the horsewomen Covadonga Boville, which got her first victory. Divisa Azul, from the stable Cuadra Los Colchoneros and trained by Mario Julio Pérez, arrived first, one neck ahead of Sherman Oask; the latter made a strong attack running by the rails; the third place went to Suevo, who arrived two lengths behind the first two classified. The payout of this winning threesome amounted to 582.50€.

The Quíntuple Plus bet corresponding to November 13th, is made up by the following numbers: 4 – 1 – 13 – 4 – 3 – 1.

The next race meeting at the Hipódromo de La Zarzuela will take place on Sunday November 20th, with the dispute of seven races; the first will begin at 11:30 am. The most outstanding will be the Gran Premio Antonio Blasco (A-category).

Hipódromo de La Zarzuela is part of Patrimonio Histórico Nacional, and its grandstands are regarded as one of Madrid’s twentieth Century architectural masterpieces. The facility covers a 110-hectare surface with a high ecological value, the equivalent to 110 soccer fields, and it has first-level facilities on a privileged location within the city of Madrid, which means that the horse racetracks constitute the most important green lung of the Spanish capital, together with the historical El Retiro Park.

HIPÓDROMO DE LA ZARZUELA belongs to Grupo SEPI, a corporate holding, which is made up by a total of 15 state-owned companies in which it has direct, majority shareholding participations, with a workforce of more than 73,000 professionals in 2015; the Spanish state-owned television and radio corporation, Corporación Radiotelevisión Española, which is attached to SEPI, and one public foundation. Equally, SEPI has direct minority shareholdings in another nine companies, and indirect ones in more than another one hundred companies.