Cinzano: the story of the Uruguayan horse that mobilized even the FBI

 Almost five decades ago there was a Uruguayan thoroughbred who was surprising for his athletic condition and his winning streaks. His name was Cinzano. Legend has it that he died in 1977 while traveling on a highway in the United States, while being transported by his new owner in a truck along with another horse named Lebon, who had not won for two years at the Maroñas Racecourse in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Cinzano

The life insurance of the Uruguayan horse represented a fortune. And although nobody gave a penny for Lebon, curiously that skinny horse began to win in distance and track competitions for which he was not qualified.

In the meantime, someone was winning a lot by betting little money. All very strange, right? The story, which seems to be taken from a movie script, ended with the intervention of the FBI, which even sent two of its agents to Montevideo.



"Turf was present throughout my life, my father was very fond of racing and my mother had some uncles in Nueva Palmira who owned horses. I remember that when I was a child we lived in Montevideo because my father was a footballer. And on Thursdays, if we could, we would go to the racetrack. But also, when he played on Saturdays, we also went on Sundays", comments Domingo Daniel Torres, author of the book "Cinzano: champion, convict and legend", which has just been published.

The work of this Uruguayan writer is the first documented approximation to a story that, although it seems like fiction, is not. "Before I knew the legend like any fan. But now I obviously have a special affection for the horse, because of everything I discovered during the investigation", he highlights.

The writer notes that this fraud, a shock to the equestrian world, could be discovered thanks to the work of two Uruguayan journalists, Julián Pérez and Daniel Rodríguez Oteiza, who became aware of the maneuver and alerted the United States Jockey Club. This caused the NYRA to begin investigating what happened in that road accident that had had more publicity than usual in the case of the death of an animal. Uruguayan journalists maintained that Lebon was actually Cinzano. And they sent by mail the documentation that supported it. What evidence did they have? The official reviews of both, very different from each other, provided by the Jockey Club of Montevideo.

As the days passed and new information appeared, the journalists' publication in the Uruguayan press gained space in the North American press: on October 25, the Daily News published an article in which it assured that the NYRA investigation was advancing, while they were awaiting the arrival of documents from Uruguay. In that note, the collection of an insurance of US$ 150,000 by Cinzano's owner is mentioned for the first time and it is reported that the dead horse had been cremated. The avalanche had begun and it would not stop. That same day, the NYRA, supported by journalistic information and reviews from the Uruguayan Jockey Club, detonated the bomb by confirming that Lebon was not Lebon.

In the Hall of Fame

Daniel Torres' book began to take shape in 2011 (and was paralyzed for many years), but the story had caught him four years earlier, when by chance he came across the news that a horse named Cinzano had entered the hall of fame of the Virginia Steeplechase Association. Could it be the Uruguayan? An Internet search confirmed the suspicion. And it led him to the story of the thoroughbred told by the American media.



"I more or less knew the local legend, the one that spoke of the mafia, of a veterinarian who worked for them, that it was owned by Telly Savalas (the actor from the TV series Kojak) and of Lebon's murder. When I saw that everything I had learned was a lie and that the story was different, I became a detective, and I began to search on Google, to get into all the free newspaper archives and to put together a file", recalls Torres.

The more I discovered and the more I wrote, the less I understood how the story hadn't been made into a movie yet. "If someone writes a fiction with this argument, they reject it as fanciful," he says.

Legend for horse racing fans



Leonardo Farber, director of the digital equestrian magazine eleTurf, explains that Cinzano was a legend within the local community and the United States. For this reason, he appreciates the fact that a book has been published that provides details of a plot with cinematographic edges.

“For those of us who were already hooked on turf activity almost half a century ago, Cinzano was an excellent track horse within a very outstanding generation that gave, for example, a classic multi-winner in Brazil like Mogambo.
Cinzano was close to being triple crowned in Maroñas, where he later won the Ramírez Grand Prix. Interest from abroad was not unusual in those days, so it was not surprising that a few months later it was sold and exported to the United States, with the veterinarian of another very famous thoroughbred, Secretariat, intervening in the transaction,” says Farber.

The expert journalist on equestrian issues indicates that, at the time, it was striking that Lebon was transported on the same flight where the Uruguayan crack was traveling, a horse whose sports level was not for great things at the local level. “This is where the story becomes a puzzle, which ended up on the FBI table and with the intervention of the American Justice. It deserved to be collected in a book. Daniel Torres has had the virtue of narrating the plot in three chapters in a colloquial, pleasant, seasoned and entertaining way”, says the director of eleTurf.

After a notorious trial in the United States, in which rivers of ink ran, "Cinzy" returned to the tracks under his real name. He accumulated triumphs again, until with the advance of the 1980s he lost his shine, although he remained the star of the State of Virginia, where his presence doubled the turnout of fans who shouted "We love you, Cinzano!", while the chestnut furrowed the tracks. In total, he won thirty of the forty-two races he ran, as if to support the concept that every jockey who rode him at the Virginia Circuit used to say: "He is the best horse I have ever raced."

After his retirement, he had an open country retirement. He commanded the fox hunts carried out by his last owners, the husband and wife Randy Rouse and Michele O'Brien, until 1999, when at the age of 26, his enormous heart said enough.

Trial in the United States



On November 1, 1977, the news of the "change" of the Uruguayan horses left the turf pages and moved to the police pages. It even shared space with the trial of the infamous David Berkowitz, who cold-bloodedly murdered six people and injured seven others.

Shortly after, it was officially confirmed that two other Argentine horses, Chirico and Sundoro, imported by the same trader implicated in the lawsuit, had also been used for a change of identity. The trial on the Cinzano case was very mediatic for its time. Meanwhile, the poor horse was "prisoner" for several months without being able to do any kind of activity.

Chantilly (Paris): Holdthasigreen wins the Prix Royal Oak

Prix Royal Oak



As usual in France, every year at the end of October, an important day of racing takes place near Paris, which has taken place in a festive atmosphere and where, despite the gray and overcast sky, sport and spectacle have marinated The perfection.

Of the eight races held today, the highlight has undoubtedly been the Prix Royal Oak; It is a test that always arouses much expectation as it is the French equivalent of the famous St. Leger Stakes, which takes place in the United Kingdom. The French race has been won by Holdthasigreen (with Tony Piccone), a six-year-old specimen owned by Jean Gilbert. The second place went to Called to the Bar (with Maxime Guyon) and the third to Morgan Le Faye (with Mickael Barzalona).

The Prix Royal Oak is classified in Group 1 and has a distance of 3,100 meters. It was disputed for the first time in the year 1861 and throughout its trajectory it has suffered some modifications, as much in the name as in the conditions to participate. Currently it is reserved for horses of three or more years of age and the award was € 350,000, of which € 199,000 went to the winner.



Another test that deserves to be highlighted from this day of turf parisina is the Criterium International (G1), a race of 1,400 meters where the victory has gone to the Royal Meeting, led by the jockey Christophe Soumillon. The second to reach the finish line was Hermosa, with Ryan Lee Moore riding and in third position Graignes was classified with Cristian Demuro.

Parx Racing Racetrack: Mc Kinzie is crowned in the Pennsilvania Derby




The American copy adds to his record of victory, Saturday, in one of the most popular races in the United States.
The three-year-old Mc Kinzie turned yesterday Saturday 22 into the winner of the Pennsilvania race Derby, celebrated in the race course of Parx Racing (Philadelphia, the United States). Trained by Bob Baffert and riding the American jockey Mike Smith, he managed to cross the finish line in a time of 1.52.05.

The second position corresponded to Axelrod, ridden by Joe Bravo, while the third classified was Trigger Warning with the riding of Irwin J. Rosendo. Hofburg (Irad Ortiz Jr.) and Core Beliefs (Joseph Talamo) finished fourth and fifth. The Pennsilvania Derby is an important race recently classified in Group 1 (only 3 years ago that it rose in the classification), and that has a route of 1,800 meters. The test, highly anticipated every year in Philadelphia, has an important economic endowment that reaches one million dollars.

The afternoon seemed to smile to Mike Smith who had already triumphed in the previous race, the Cotillion Stakes, also classified in Group 1. This time the jockey rode Midnight Bisou who crossed the finish line in first place in just 1.45. 95 Monomoy Girl (with Florent Geroux) and Wonder Garot (with John R. Velázquez) qualified in second and third position.



In total there were thirteen races that took place yesterday within what is known as Pennsylvania Derby & Cotillion Day, an intense day of turf where the sport mixes with shows and activities, and that has become over the years in one of the most important turf events in the end of summer.

Nakayama vibrates with the victory of Generale Uno





Generale Uno was the winner today of the Asahi Hai St. Lite Kinen race, which was held as usual at the Nakayama racecourse (Chiba, Japan).
A new and exciting Monday horse racing in the country of the rising sun; today in particular it was the day of the Asahi Hai St. Litle Kinen, without a doubt the highlight of the turf day that was held at the Nakayama racecourse.

The great protagonist of the same has been Generale Uno, with the mounts of the local jockey Hironobu Tanabe. The three-year-old horse crossed the finish line in a time of 2'12'1 ". The second position went to Legend, who was ridden by the Frenchman Christophe Lemaire, and finally the third position was taken by Grail, riding the Yasunari Iwata. Breathtaking - mounted by Mirco Demuro - and Oken Moon - mounted by Hiroshi Kitamura - have qualified in fourth and fifth position.

We will remember that the Asahi Hai St. Lite Kinen is an important race classified in Group 2, and that it takes place every year in mid-September; it can compete copies of 3 or more years of age and its route is 2,200 meters. It has a large economic endowment of 117,540,000 yen, which is equivalent to almost one million euros of which 54,000 yen are for the winner.

Other notable victories in the day at Nakayama were those of Flawless Magic (Christophe Lemaire) in the Shiroi Tokubetsu (1800 m) and that of Kitasan Gamba (Keita Tosaki) in the Urayasu Tokubetsu (1200 m). An intense day with twelve races that have filled the hippodrome with fans of a sport that is gaining more and more followers in this country.


Anne Engels wins the Longines Fegentri in Ostend (Belgium)

The Belgian rider was proclaimed winner on Monday, August 27, at the traditional Longines Fegentri races in the encounter that took place today in the Belgian town of Ostend.




A few days after the end of the summer, the turf competitions continue, such as the one that took place today in Ostend (Belgium), belonging to the international circuit of Longines Fegentri.

The test reserved for the films has had as a winner a local Amazon, Anne Engels who has participated in the test on the back of Boccaccina; the second position went to the French Ingrid Montenegro (with Zakhar Star), while the third rider who has qualified is an American, Bethany Baumgardner (with the love of Greeley).

This race, called Prijs S. Kervyn D'Oud Mooreghem, was the first of the eight held today (3 at a gallop and 5 at trot) at the Belgian racecourse in Ostend. In addition, this race is also the number 20 stop within the Longines Fegentri calendar for women.

A date today The Fegentri circuit ranking for Amazons is led by the German Lilly Marie Engels, which has accumulated to date one hundred and forty points. After her is only twenty-three points the Belgian Alice Bertiaux, with one hundred and seventeen points and finally in third place of the list appears the Swiss Naomi Heller, with a total of one hundred two points. We will remember that the score in the Fegentri races is established with 20 points for the winner, 12 for the second and 6 for the third to reach the goal.

The next races of this type were the following: the Amazons, on September 1 in the magical Istanbul (Turkey), and on September 23 in Mannheim (Germany) that of gentlemen.