The McAnally-Argentine Pipeline lives on in Suggestive Boy
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McAnally became the greatest importer of horse talent from South America our sport has ever seen. Finding future stars where others could not, the Hall of Fame trainer kept the major wins coming via Argentina. First came Bayakoa. A grade 1 winner in only eight starts in her native land, Bayakoa got off to a modest start to her American racing career at age 4. McAnally, known for his patience, watched Bayakoa blossom at the age of 5. She won five consecutive stakes races and finished a magnificent year by winning eight of her last nine races in 1989, many of the grade 1 variety. The year concluded with a
Before Bayakoa’s second championship season was complete, Paseana won her first grade 1 race in Argentina, and like his first Argentine champion, McAnally imported the mare after just eight races in South America. Her Amercian success came even quicker than her champion predecessor. After a second place debut in the fall of 1991, Paseana would go on a seven-race unbeaten streak that included five grade I races. Her winning streak was broken against the boys in the Pacific Classic, but a romping win later that year in the Breeders' Cup Distaff left no doubt to her superiority in her division. As a six-year-old, Paseana did not win as often, but was still able to win grade I races in Arkansas, California, and in Kentucky. She was narrowly defeated by Hollywood Wildcat in the Breeders' Cup Distaff, but still collected her second consecutive Eclipse Award as Champion Older Female, giving McAnally and his Argentine mares four in a five year stretch. Paseana kept going for two more years, adding more graded stakes wins to her impressive win total. All told, she fell just two short of winning as many stakes races after being imported as did Bayakoa, with 14 of them for McAnally and owner Sidney Craig.
Several years would pass before the arrival of the next Argentine star for McAnally. An overpowering winner in all three South American starts as a three-year-old, Candy Ride was purchased for $900,000 by Sid and Jenny Craig on the advice of their Hall of Fame trainer. In 2003, the four-year-old colt made his American debut a winning one in easy fashion. He then switched to turf to take the Grade 2 American Handicap on turf before heading back to dirt for the Grade 1 Pacific Classic. In a performance many will not soon forget, Candy Ride rolled to a 3¼ length victory under Julie Krone in track record time of 1:59:11. In easily beating Medaglia d'Oro and earning a Beyer speed figure of 123, many considered the undefeated star the best horse in the country. Unfortunately, an injury would prompt the premature retirement of McAnally’s latest imported star.
It’s been nine years already since Candy Ride, but now, at age 80, McAnally may have another Argentine star in Suggestive Boy. The four-year-old son of Easing Along made only six starts in Argentina, all in 2011, but was still able to score four grade 1 victories. Now in the States, Suggestive Boy has gotten off to the kind of American start that promises the McAnally-Argentine pipeline is alive and well. After a sharp local debut race in which he finished a solid second to Jeranimo in the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile at Hollywood Park on June 30, Suggestive Boy was sent off as a 4-5 favorite in his second try in the country on Wednesday in the Wickerr Stakes at Del Mar. He did not disappoint.
“He’s an extraordinary horse,” said McAnally in the winner’s circle. “I won’t be able to hold him on the ground tomorrow morning. He loves to train; he loves to race. “He eats everything in sight, including me. He just can’t get enough. I don’t know what’s next, but it will be something bigger and better.”
Bigger and better indeed; why not dream big with the track record McAnally has with Argentine imports. Perhaps he has another championship run in him. It could not happen to a nicer guy.
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