Bambera (horse)

Bambera (foaled 2006 in Venezuela) is a currently ACTIVE Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. She is trained by Gustavo Delgado for her owners, Gregorio Castro and Raúl Fraga, who race under the name, Paula C Stable. Now in training in the United States, she is likely to face American champions Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta in the Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park on April 9, 2010.

Breeding and Pedigree

Bambera was bred by Amín Saiden's Haras San Isidro in the parish of Magdaleno, Zamora Municipality, Aragua. She was sired by Water Poet, a stakes winner in France who has been the leading sire in Venezuela (2004-2009) in six of his seven years there at stud. Water Poet is a son of the British super-stallion, Sadler's Wells. Her damsire is Le Voyageur, a son of 1977 U.S. Triple Crown winner, Seattle Slew. Her pedigree is also studded with female standouts including Triple Tiara winner Davona Dale and blue hen mares My Charmer and Natalma.

Accomplishments

A winner of seven Argentinean Grade 1 races, and the Venezuela Champion Two and Three Year-Old Filly of 2008 and 2009, she was also voted 2009 Venezuelan Horse of the Year and has beaten male horses on numerous occasions.

2009 Racing Campaign

Her three-year-old victories in the Clásico Hipódromo La Rinconada, the Clásico Prensa Hípica Nacional, and the Clásico General Joaquín Crespo made her the winner of the Venezuelan Fillies' Triple Crown. She also won two of the three races that make up the Venezuelan Triple Crown for male horses. Her only defeat came on June 14th in the Clásico Cría Nacional, where she carried a commanding lead into the stretch but was run down by Harriman. The race came only seven days after her victory in the second leg of the fillies' triple crown, and some industry observers feel it likely that she was tired and not in her best form.

Bouncing back from defeat, she sealed the fillies' crown on July 4, and then defeated Harriman in the Clásico República Bolivariana de Venezuela later that month. She had a well-deserved six weeks off after this effort, and then reeled off three more Venezuelan Grade 1 victories, including the Clásico Simon Bolivar in October, in which Harriman ran second.

Bambera departed Venezuela and finished her three year-old campaign with a victory in Puerto Rico's prestigious Clasico del Caribe against male horses from four other Latin American countries. She was the fifth female horse to win the race since its inception in 1966. The Mexican-bred filly Vivian Record finished second, marking the only time females have run first and second in that race.

2010 Racing Campaign

Bambera is currently in training at Calder Race Course in Miami Gardens, Florida and has been nominated by her handlers to run in the Apple Blossom Invitational Handicap at Oaklawn Park Race Track in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Bambera will compete in a race that will carry a US$5 million purse if the yet-to-be-nominated Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta run.