The chestnut returned to the track after a brief stop, clinching a commanding victory in the Dancing Moss Handicap over 1400 meters
It's no secret that Torino Kiin Ha is a top-quality horse. The trick with the chestnut from Stud Mis 5 Nietos, of Villaguay, is trying to figure him out—because aside from being a bona fide runner, his inconsistency is the only other trait that defines him.
The son of Señor Candy, winner of the Isidoro Aramburu (G3) at 3, and of the the Ciudad de La Plata (G2) in 2023—both at La Plata—returned to action on Monday at Palermo after nearly two and a half months away, delivering his best performance yet and bouncing back from what had been a farewell run in which he finished seventh while attempting to defend the title in the race that usually crowns the best sprinter in La Plata.
Between 1200 meters and a mile, Torino Kiin Ha adapts effortlessly, cruising along and making headway on the outside just as he did in the Dancing Moss Handicap (1400 m, dirt). That race was the strongest of an otherwise weather-challenged card—the temperature on the track reached 38°C (with some areas even hotter)—and, logically, drew far fewer spectators than usual, since Monday crowds at Palermo typically pack the stands.
Ridden by Eduardo Ortega Pavón, the Carlos A. Cardón trainee attacked from the outside overtook Gran Positano (Tan Chemistry, 52 1/2), who had set the pace from the start. From 200 meters on, Torino Kiin Ha pulled away to evade the long charge of favorite Easy Way Out (Il Campione, 59), who simply took too long to get moving.
By a head, the mare Ingres (Galicado, 54 1/2) clinched an impressive third place ahead of Twitch Hurricane (Hurricane Cat, 57) and Berri Vell (Bodemeister, 54 1/2). The race was completed in an excellent 1:21.89 on a track watered to the maximum—a surface that has been handling the lack of rain remarkably well.
Bred privately by Erica Noel Barreca and out of the exceptionally consistent Eluney Trick (Hat Trick), Torino Kiin Ha notched his fifth victory in 22 starts, third in the high level, and his earnings now exceed 23,000,000 pesos—a modest sum for such a campaign, but that's the way the story goes.
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