Mr. Nedawi earns Argentinean ticket to BC Marathon

By completing the race in 2:36.38 over a sloppy track, Mr. Nedawi earned his

14th career victory for owners Stud Hole in One and trainer Joao G. da Costa.

Ten of those wins have come in stakes, including the 2009 Grande Premio Parana

(Brz-G1), last November's Gran Premio Dardo Rocha (Arg-G1) and the January 6

Gran Premio Jose Pedro Ramirez (Uru-G1) at Maroñas. 

As part of the enhanced benefits program for Breeders' Cup Challenge winners

introduced this year, the Breeders' Cup will pay the entry fees of US$15,000 and

a travel allowance of US$20,000 to the owners of Mr. Nedawi if the horse is

nominated to the Breeders' Cup by the Championships' pre-entry deadline of

October 24 to receive the rewards.

"We were very confident in Mr. Nedawi because this is his distance," da Costa

said. "He was running (recently) over 2,000 meters and you have some very fast

milers (in those races), so the rhythm is different. This is a very nice horse, easy to train; he

always runs his race."

Da Costa was noncommittal about the possibility of

traveling to Churchill Downs.

"We will talk with the owners, but it (the Marathon) can be a good

spot," da Costa said, adding, "We're not at this time."

A bay out of the Cryptoclearance mare Cryptic Crucial, Mr. Nedawi was bred in

Brazil by Haras Old Friends Ltda.