Santa Anita: McAnally has high hopes for Argentine import Suggestive Boy

ARCADIA, Calif. – Suggestive Boy, widely considered Argentina’s top horse of 2011, is the latest South American star to arrive at trainer Ron McAnally’s stable at Santa Anita.

Suggestive Boy won four Group 1 races in Argentina in 2011 – the Gran Premio Raul y Raul Chevlier, the Gran Premio Estrellas Juvenile, the Argentine 2000 Guineas, and Gran Premio Jockey Club. Owned by Jose Cerrillo of Mexico, Suggestive Boy went through quarantine in Florida and arrived in Southern California last Sunday, McAnally said.

McAnally has trained such South American imports as Bayakoa, Candy Ride, and Paseana, all of whom became major stakes winners in this country. Bayakoa (1989) and Paseana (1992) won the Breeders’ Cup Distaff ; Candy Ride won the 2003 Pacific Classic.

There is hope that Suggestive Boy can reach the same level of achievement in the second half of this year. Early impressions are favorable, McAnally said.

“I’ve always said, ‘Give me the horse,’ ” McAnally said. “He looks like the horse. He sure looks the part. We’ve had a lot of luck with South Americans.”

Race plans are months away, McAnally said, allowing the 4-year-old time to acclimatize to California.

“Hopefully by the end of Hollywood Park or at Del Mar, if it all goes well,” McAnally said of an expected American debut. “We’ve been walking him for a couple of days at the barn.”

Another major stakes winner from South America, Interaction, the winner of the Group 1 Carlos Pellegrini Stakes in Argentina in 2009, has been with McAnally for approximately a month. He is days away from his first workout, McAnally said.

Since the Pellegrini win, Interaction has struggled losing stakes in Dubai, at Arlington Park, and Saratoga. Last year, Interaction was trained by Christophe Clement on the East Coast.