Gunnevera carries Kentucky Derby hopes of Venezuela

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Salomon Del Valle was just 20 years old when he came to America for the first time. He joined thousands of his Venezuelan countrymen in attending the 1971 Belmont Stakes in New York, where a previously unheralded colt from Venezuela, Canonero II, was trying to complete a sweep of the Triple Crown.

Now 66, Del Valle is smack in the middle of the first leg of the 2017 Triple Crown as a principal in Peacock Stable, the owner of Gunnevera, one of the top contenders in the 143rd Kentucky Derby. He said more than 60 friends and family members from Venezuela will join him Saturday for the Derby.

“Win, Pass Catcher,” Del Valle said in broken English this week at Barn 41 when recounting the 1971 Belmont, in which Canonero II finished fourth behind longshot Pass Catcher.

Del Valle, the owner of a construction company in Valencia, Carabobo, Venezuela, said he once met Gustavo Avila, the jockey for Canonero II, but not trainer Juan Arias nor owner Pedro Baptista.

“I was just a fan,” he said through an interpreter.

Del Valle is partners in Peacock with his son-in-law Guillermo Guerra, who is married to Del Valle’s daughter Veronica, and with Jaime Diaz, a Miami businessman and native of Spain.

The stretch-running Gunnevera enters the Derby with three graded stakes wins from nine career starts, having won the Saratoga Special and Delta Jackpot at 2 and the Fountain of Youth in his second of three starts at 3. The colt’s trainer, Antonio Sano, and jockey, Javier Castellano, both are natives of Venezuela now living in the U.S.