Race

Gran Premio Carlos Pellegrini

Run since 1887

  • Grade: G1
  • Type: Stakes
  • Distance: 2.400 m
  • Surface: Turf
  • Racetrack: San Isidro
  • Traditional month: December
  • Age: 3+ y/o
  • Eligibility: Open

The Gran Premio Carlos Pellegrini is the most important Group 1 race on the Argentine racing calendar and the longest-running classic of South American turf. First run in 1887 and held since 1980 every December at Hipódromo de San Isidro over 2,400 metres on turf, it gathers the best three-year-olds and older horses from across South America and is sometimes called the "South American Arc de Triomphe".

Commercial details & record

Current purse
ARS 250M (2025 data)
Weight scale
Weight-for-age per international scale. 3-year-olds: 54 kg (second semester) or 58 kg (first semester). 4-year-olds: 60 kg (second semester) or 61 kg (first semester). 5-year-olds and up: 61 kg. Fillies and mares: 2 kg allowance.

Race record

2:21.98

Set on 1999

Historical record

140 editions on record

Race history

The Gran Premio Internacional Carlos Pellegrini is the most prestigious race on the Argentine racing calendar and the longest-running classic in South American turf. It was created in 1887 in honour of Carlos Enrique José Pellegrini Bevans, founder and first president of the Jockey Club de Buenos Aires and later President of the Argentine Republic.

From 1887 to 1939 the race was run at the Hipódromo Argentino de Palermo. In 1940 it moved to the Hipódromo de San Isidro, its current home. Between 1971 and 1979 it returned temporarily to Palermo while San Isidro was closed; the 1976 edition was not run. In 1980 it came back to San Isidro and adopted its modern conditions — turf course over 2,400 metres — which have remained in place ever since. From 1981 onwards it has been classified as an international Group 1.

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The race is open to three-year-olds and older from any country, run at international weight-for-age with a two-kilo allowance for fillies and mares. Brazilian, Uruguayan and Peruvian challengers travel for it every spring, which is why in Japan it is sometimes referred to as the "South American Arc de Triomphe".

Historic milestones: Botafogo won in 1917 as part of his career of 17 starts with a single defeat; in 1952 the race set the attendance record at Hipódromo de San Isidro with 102,600 spectators; Asidero set the standing course record of 2:21.98 in 1999; and Storm Mayor (2005 and 2006) became the first back-to-back winner in 61 years, since Filón in 1944 and 1945.

Sources

Citations backing the data on this profile. Each row links to the original source.

Data loaded manually with visible citation when a source is available. The historical record fills edition by edition as sources are verified.

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