Bucanero Fuerte shouldn’t even be in the G1 Flying Five Stakes at the Curragh this Sunday but nature’s twist is a gain for the sport, and Kia Joorabchian’s AMO Racing-owned four-year-old is in “great form” for his attempt to snare a second career Group 1 win.
Trainer Adrian Murray bade farewell to the colt last autumn when the son of star stallion Wootton Bassett retired to stand at Tally-Ho Stud for a covering fee of €12,500. But he wasn’t gone long: by March Bucanero Fuerte was unexpectedly back at Murray’s County Westmeath stables, having failed to get a single mare in foal.
Now Bucanero Fuerte has the chance to emphasise the benefit of maturity when he takes his place alongside stablemate Arizona Blaze in the 20-runner five-furlong dash.
“They’re both in great form, really,” Murray told Idol Horse as he looked forward to his “nice bunch of horses” going to Irish Champions Weekend at Leopardstown on Saturday and the Curragh on Sunday.
Bucanero Fuerte heads in off the back of two wins: a return triumph first-up in the Listed Sole Power Sprint at Naas in May, and a tune-up success to set him right for the autumn in the G3 Phoenix Sprint Stakes at the Curragh last month.
That took his Curragh record to four wins from six starts, having won the G1 Phoenix Stakes and G2 Railway Stakes there as a juvenile. But his one poor run there came in this race last year, one of three autumn starts in 2024 that suggested the brilliant two-year-old of the year prior had lost his dash, and so to his brief retirement.
“It was the plan after Naas to bring him back this autumn and after he won at the Curragh the last time we said we’d wait for Irish Champions Weekend,” said Murray, who sent Arizona Blaze across to York in late August for the G1 Nunthorpe Stakes won by the reopposing Australian mare Asfoora.
The trainer takes the view that Bucanero Fuerte is stronger and more mature for his four-year-old campaign.
“He’s going that way, his last two runs, he’s matured and he’s shown he’s as good as ever he was,” he said. “He’s good enough to compete at that level, so hopefully now he’ll collect. We couldn’t be happier with him going to the race.”
Arizona Blaze, another AMO Racing colt, is a year younger than Bucanero Fuerte but already has three more runs on the board. The bay’s nine juvenile runs included placings in the G2 Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot, the G1 Phoenix Stakes and a close second in the Gi Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
This year he has three wins from seven, the pick being two runs ago when he landed the G2 Sapphire Stakes over Sunday’s course and distance. But last time out in the Nunthorpe he didn’t fire in 11th out of 17.
“Arizona Blaze has seldom run a bad race,” Murray said, “but on the last day he was a little disappointing. If he steps back to his original form he’d be bang there, though.
“I’d say it was just one of those days, he was a little bit slow out of the stalls in the Nunthorpe and in his races he likes to be there; once he was slow away he got kind of on the back foot and never could get things his own way. York is probably a fast track, different to the Curragh where stamina would come into it a little bit more.”
The trainer also has this year’s Irish 1,000 Guineas second California Dreamer in the G1 Matron Stakes this weekend and is hoping for a bounce back to form after three moderate efforts since, including when well-beaten in the G3 Jersey Stakes at Royal Ascot in June.
“She’s been a bit disappointing since the Guineas but we’re very happy with her at home, we’re happy with her now,” Murray said.
“She went to Ascot there and the two trips away she never ran well, so obviously she doesn’t like travelling, so we’re putting it a bit down to that. We’re hoping for a nice run now.”
The cattle farmer who came to training race horses late and started out with point-to-point runners until recent years, is a key figure in the AMO Racing set-up. Since teaming with Brazilian jockey-turned bloodstock agent Robson Aguiar about a decade ago, he has gone from strength to strength, primarily with the backing of AMO Racing: Aguiar is expected to join Murray on a joint-licence to train next season.
Murray earned his first Group race win when Valiant Force won the 2023 Norfolk Stakes and a Group 1 win this weekend would make it three at the top level after Power Blue earned the stable a second Phoenix Stakes win this summer. ∎
