BY TAMMY A. GANTT
Florida-bred El Potente strolled to a five-length victory at a mile on the turf to repeat in the Grade 3 $100,000 Thunder Road at Santa Anita on Saturday in a field of five.
Frank Mirahmadi, the track announcer at Santa Anita Park and Saratoga Race Course, summed up the horse’s dominant stretch run in perfect phrase.
“Widening at will. And a very special performance indeed out of El Potente,” Mirahmadi said.
Trained by Dan Blacker and piloted by Hector Isaac Berrios, El Potente set the pace with opening fractions of 22.92 and 46.67 seconds along the inside under pressure from Namaron (Ger). Midway around the far turn he moved passed Namaron with a burst of speed at the top of the stretch to win handily.
Gas Me Up settled at the back of the pack going two wide. During the race, he held good position until he ran up on the heels of Watsonville, then having to go four wide to get around. He rallied in the stretch but his rival El Potente was already gone. Watsonville ran third.
Lord Bullingdon got caught up in tight quarters behind Namaron making a sudden stop to angle out in the stretch where he never regained his momentum.
El Potente is by Temple City out of the stakes-placed Florida-bred mare Charmsil, by legendary Florida-bred Silver Charm and was bred in Florida by Marilyn and Mike Bianco’s Charmsil LLC. El Potente was the last foal and first stakes-winner out of Charmsil, who has five winners from nine starters and 10 foals. Two full-siblings retired to be show horses with one competing in Ocala and the other in Lexington.
El Potente is a graduate of the 2021 Ocala Breeders’ Sales June Sale where McMahon and Hill Bloodstock as agent purchased him for $35,000 out of the Nice and Easy Thoroughbreds consignment. Mike Way’s My Way Racing LLC currently owns the seven-year-old. El Potente’s win earned his breeder $5,000, as part of the FTBOA Export Incentive program.
“My horse raced perfect,” Berrios said. “We went to the lead, but when I felt the pressure from the other horse (Namaron), my horse fought back and was really strong. On the turn, I asked him and he responded. Coming down the stretch, he just flew.”
“At the top level he is just better at a mile and he showed it today,” Blacker said. “We were just hoping he was going to run back to his race last year and he did.”
He improved to 17: 7-2-3 with more than $340,000 in earnings.
“I think he is just a horse naturally that has gotten better as he’s gotten older,” Blacker said. “I try to hope that all my horses are going to turn out better as they get older. Some of them do and some of them don’t. We are just fortunate enough that he’s super talented. It’s a credit to Mike (Way) the owner. He has been patient and we have given the horse time when he’s asked for it. He is thriving right now. He’s just a cool horse.”
El Potente paid $4.00, $2.10 and $2.10. Gas Me Up, trained by Peter Eurton, returned $2.20 and $2.10. Watsonville, with Antonio Fresu up for trainer Mark Glatt, paid $2.80.
Return to the February 7 issue of Wire to Wire
