After an exciting few mornings at the track as horses prepared for the Serie Hipica Del Caribe races at Hipódromo Presidente Remón it was time for the big weekend of racing. I arrived at the track at noon on Saturday, two hours before first post to get my stuff set up and within half an hour the festives began.
A table of trophies was set up in the paddock and waiting for the winners of that day’s three Serie Hipica Del Caribe races. For people attracted to shiny things like me the table was like a magnet.
But one thing that can pull me away from shiny things is horses and soon each of the five countries in the Caribe races was represented by a dark bay horse with a rider carrying its flag while a band played nearby.
After that, it was time to see my first ever race in Panama. While there were some differences than you see in the United States, like some of the horses for the next race coming over during the post parade of the race before, it was mostly the same when the horses hit the track.
After that race, I headed to explore the track a little. It was easy to see how excited both the people and track management were to hold the races as soon as you entered the track with people posing with the three flower blankets of that day’s races right by the entry gate. Each of the blankets had a banner with its race’s sponsor attached to it.
By the paddock, I found some very enthusiastic workers. These guys were by the paddock every race and it became kind of a running joke for them to pose for my camera before every race.
One thing that I saw a lot of was kids around the track. They watched the horses intently every time a field entered the walking ring or raced and were even watching when the horses were in the indoor paddock as well.
While some of the young kids didn’t go to the indoor paddock between races, they found ways to keep entertained between the official races with marble races. I was informed by a few of them that they make bets on whose marble will get to the finish line first and during the day I saw the kids really get into the marble races, cheering and screaming then run to the track rail when it was post time for the horse races.
The first big race of the day was the Copa Velocidad del Caribe, a sprint race open to aged 3 and older. Carded as race four, the already full rail leading from the indoor paddock to the walking ring filled up even more with fans who wanted to get a glimpse of the runners.
The 3-year-old filly Bella Vecina, representing Panama, won the race with a familiar name aboard. Jose Lezcano flew in for the weekend’s races and was on the filly for the victory.
During the races, the winning jockeys would dismount and go weigh in while the horses were briefly untacked to catch their breaths before the winner’s circle presentation. Jose was stopped by press to get a few words as he stepped off the scale after weighing in.
A popular figure in Panama racing, Jose was also saluted by one of the pony riders as he went by the winner’s circle celebrations.
After Bella Vecina’s winner’s circle pictures were taken (a process that takes much longer than in the U.S. as the connections and horse strike many different poses in different places in the winner’s circle and on the track), the filly headed back to the barn while the trophy presentation began. The filly’s owner and her friends made quite the picture in the trophy circle with the Panama flag.
Nearly everyone associated with the horse was given some sort of memento from the trainer to the jockey’s agent and even the groom. Overall, the presentation was a huge affair and took the better part of half an hour with the next race already in the post parade when it finally dispersed.
From there, the races hit fast and furiously but even with a lot of running around, it was hard to miss the country pride and spirit in each of the big races. The Copa Dama del Caribe may have had the most pride of all the races on Saturday with some fillies’ grooms going all out. But Katalina la Oh’s groom got the award for the most creative.
Even Panama Filly Triple Crown winner Monkey Business got into the spirit with ribbons in her mane and forelock matching her silks.
But in the end, it was last year’s Panama 2-year-old filly champion Vicki who took home the win.
The final big race of the day was the Copa Confraternidad Del Caribe, which had horses like the previous year’s winner Don Carlos R. and 2013 Clasico Del Caribe winner Diamante Negro in it. But the winner was Mexico’s Eclaire, ridden by another North America-based jockey in Luis Contreras.
Eclaire’s connections were ecstatic with one of his grooms wearing the flower blanket back to the barn and flashing a huge smile for my camera.
With that, the first day’s big races were done but Sunday was promised to be even more spectacular.
Before I even walked through the track gate on Sunday, the flavor for the day was set when these ladies greeted me as I got out of the car.
Like the day before, the flower blankets were waiting inside for whoever wanted to get a good look at them.
Even though it was early in the day, the track was still full and had many different activities for both kids and adults.
The paddock rail was also full for the undercard races with people already staking out their spots before the big races of the day.
While there had been very fashionable people at the races the day before, Sunday was even more impressive with ladies pulling out dresses and hats.
While the two Caribe races didn’t start until later in the afternoon, between undercard races and other activities visitors were kept entertained all day. One such event was Panamanian dancers coming out between the third and fourth race to perform by the paddock.
Finally it was time for the first of the two Caribe races of the day. While four of the Caribe races are only open to horses bred in the countries participating in the series, this race was open to those bred outside of the countries and all seven were bred in the United States. Run at about a mile and a half, the race was open to horses who were 3 or older with the oldest horse in the field being 6-year-old You’re My Buddy.
If you read my other Panama blog, you know I fell in love with Deland during the week. The 3-year-old colt came over making Puerto Rico proud with his country pride.
It was a little hot outside so while the horses were in the paddock getting saddled, some people stayed cool with fans.
Just like the day before, the horses were dressed in their finest with Salustio wearing yellow ribbons to match his bridle, boots and silks.
While all the countries had a ton of pride in the horses running in these races, I think the award for most country pride goes to Puerto Rico. Every horse they brought over had a small army carrying Puerto Rico flags and it was a big party for them in the paddock before every race.
As the horses loaded into the gate, most of the seats at the track were empty but that was because everyone was standing up.
The race went by the stands twice and the first time by, the fashionable Salustio was in front.
While the distance between him and the other horses changed slightly the next time around, the 5-year-old held on and won the Copa Invitacional de Importados.
Fans gathered right outside the winner’s circle to take in the moment as Salustio was untacked for the first time.
I like to think that Salustio was smiling for my camera while waiting for his jockey to come back. He seems like a horse who is full of personality so it’d make sense.
He had more than enough chances to get his picture taken in the coming minutes. A hometown horse, I’m pretty sure everyone in the Panama horse racing community wanted to pet him or pose with him.
It was like an early Christmas in the trophy circle with the amount of awards his connections were given after Salustio headed back to the barn. Of course, the main trophy was the biggest draw.
After the next race, it was time for the big draw of the weekend. Even the ponies looked excited as they waited for the Clasico del Caribe field to come over.
The amusing thing about Panama is that they take the phrase “pony horse” serious. While there were some full sized horses ponying the racehorses to post, there were also quite a few actual ponies accompanying them to post. The ponies held their own with the Thoroughbreds too. If a horse tried to get too frisky, they let them know who was boss.
Before the big race’s ceremony started, Panama’s Sol Register came over to get ready for the race. A lot of people were already sitting in the stands and watched the colt as he took in his surroundings.
While Sol Register circled inside the paddock waiting for the 11 other entries to come over, the Clasico trophy made its way to the paddock. Surrounded by four guards, the trophy was set right in front of the Laffit Pincay, Jr. statue. Pincay is a beloved son of Panama with a large painting of him in the walkway under the stands and a nearby jockey school also named after him.
As the horses finally arrived in the paddock, the rails and indoor paddock stands filled up. The buzz of the crowd felt the same as some of the biggest races I’ve been to in the United States as everyone got ready to cheer on their favorites.
Panama dual classic winner Calinico was loving the crowd, eying us every time he circled in the paddock. His trainer “Droopy” had told me all week that Calinico was the horse to watch even though he also called the field the toughest he’d seen in many years.
Looking at the field, it was easy to see why he said that with classy horses from post position 1 to post position 12.
The ones the most eyes were on though were Triple Crown winner Huitlacoche (6), Puerto Rico’s dual classic winner Registro (11) in addition to Calinico.
My personal favorite in the race was Panama’s 2-year-old champion Nite Train who I had seen on Friday. From the same barn as Calinico, I was excited to see how he did here. Fortunately for me, I didn’t put any money on him because he had some issues during the race and didn’t do well.
As the horses paraded around the walking ring, the rail there was busier than I saw it all weekend.
The post parade was led by the flag men we had seen before as the horses headed to the gate at the top of the stretch. As the horses went by the crowd, some of them looked at us as closely as we were looking at them.
Next to my place on the paddock rail, a man turned on a radio and tuned it to a local radio station playing the race so we could hear the call over the cheering. I’m glad he did because the crowd drowned out the speaker system at the track and I couldn’t have heard it if I tried as the field went by the first time.
Down the stretch the battle was intense as Huitlacoche and Calinico battled stride for stride with Luis Contreras and Jose Lezcano, respectively, riding their hearts out on their mounts to take home the trophy. Both had asked the trainers if they could ride their respective horse in the race and had winning the race on their career bucket list. In the end Jose came out the winner with Calinico to defeat the Triple Crown winner.
After the win, happy chaos broke out on the track. I’ve experienced the Kentucky Derby winner’s circle and I can say this was even crazier than that. A “hometown” Panama horse winning the Clasico had the fans and horsemen going nuts with everyone, even those who were part of the camps of other Panama horses, celebrating. Someone handed Jose a few Panama flags and he paraded Calinico down the stretch with them.
As Jose weighed in, Calinico was hosed down before being tacked back up for the winner’s circle celebrations. The horse came back to the winner’s circle looking refreshed and ready for all the attention he was about to get.
Calinico seems to truly enjoy attention and was a happy horse in the winner’s circle. Even with the pandemonium around him, he kept his cool and his ears up nearly the whole time.
After probably 10 minutes of getting his photo taken with multiple people and his flower blanket, it was time for Calinico to head home to cool out with a brand new blanket.
But the celebration was still going for his connections. Media from around the world surrounded Jose to get his thoughts on the race before Droopy pulled him out of the scrum to get a picture taken.
From there it was over to the trophy circle for the presentation, which lasted nearly until the next race went to the gate. Predictably everyone in the winner’s circle was ecstatic, even the littlest person in the winner’s circle.
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With the next race about to go off, the celebration dispersed and the Caribe races were over. I can hands down recommend that if you’re looking for an international race weekend to go to that you go to wherever the Caribe races are being held. It’s a great time with a lot of fun people and good horses in a warm climate, perfect for a December vacation! If you don’t want to fly internationally there’s even talk of bringing the races to Gulfstream Park in Florida, possibly as soon as 2017.
Good article Tom – enjoyed it.
I love horse racing as well. Used to live only 2-3 blocks from the Arcadia Race Track in Arcadia, Calif. and would go to watch the horses working out during the week, you could have breakfast in the stands there while watching them… which we did… and went to the races as well. I still have my ID card for the race track and I haven’t been there in over 15 yrs. since moving to Oregon. Do miss those days though – I do however, have a horse weathervane on my roof top… the only one around, and I love it. You can find my house because of it. My dad who was a trucker when I was growing up used to truck show horses around the midwest for well to do families in the area… so I guess you could say, I’ve had horses in my blood for yrs. They are beautiful animals.
Again, thanks for the article – well done.