Cascarita
Oli Chicha is a daughter of Fax Banquero and Yazmin, who in turn is daughter of Cascarita II and Pucará. Cascarita II is one of the daughters of Cascarita and El Back, son of Highlander. This last Cascarita was played by Alfredo Harriott in Coronel Suárez in all the Opens from 1975 to 1981, and also played the Copa de las Américas. Cascarita’ s dam, Cicatriz, daughter of Lince, was also played by the Harriotts in the opens between 1966 and 1970, which shows the consistency of this female bloodline. Cascarita II was sold at the Argentine Polo Pony Breeder’ s Association( AACCP) auction in 1986. This goes to show that the Association has been providing breeders with access to information regarding genetic bloodlines that were not known before but are very strong, since a very long time ago Cicatriz( Lince), dam of Cascarita, is sister to another Cicatriz, and she in turn is dam, with Vengo Tarde, of SIMPÁ- TICA, founder dam of this successful Ellerstina bloodline. Simpática( Vengo Tarde and Cicatríz) played many Opens under Gonzalo Pieres; was chosen best playing mare at the Hurlingham Open in 1995, and is one of Ellerstina’ s most important donor mares. Dam of over 10 Triple-
Crown-playing ponies, and what is curious about it is that those 10 of her offspring come from 8 different sires. Likewise, we discover that over 80 Triple-Crown-playing ponies currently carry Simpática blood in their pedigree, many of them through Ellerstina Pícaro, possibly one of the most consistent sires of our day, which in 1998 became Grand Champion at the Palermo Rural Exhibition. Among these we find: Ellerstina Simpatía; Ellerstina Felicidad, who in turn is dam to 4 ponies that play the Triple Crown, and of Open Sobretodo( 1st. generation), sire to Open Celadora, Reserve Grand Champion at the Rural Exhibition this year, and which carries Simpática in her pedigree through Ellerstina Felicidad on her sire’ s side, and through Ellerstina Pícaro by Grappa Ilustrada on her dam’ s. In a few years’ time we shall discover that most of the important polo bloodlines have Simpática in their pedigree, either through Ellerstina Pícaro— that boasts over 15 stallions among his offspring— or through his current donor daughters. In turn, Fino Janus, Male Grand Champion at this Rural Exhibition, has Simpática in his pedigree through Ellerstina Pícaro, his great-grandfather.
“ Did she begin at the start of the season or only at Hurlingham?” J. M. N.:“ This year we decided to put her to one side at Tortugas. She started playing at Hurlingham and we had to work on her because we needed to make her lose weight. I played her very little the first matches, but by the semi-finals and the final at Hurlingham she played a lot. At Palermo she was impressive and showed improvement with every match.”
Oli Chicha
Date of birth: 12-31-2003 Sire Fax Banquero( Louvre x Banquera) Dam Yasmín( Pucará x Cascarita) Breeder: El Caburé S. A. Owner & Player: Juan Martín Nero
“ What does it mean to you that a horse from your organization should be granted this award?” J. M. N.:“ To me it is a spectacular prize, but I wish to thank all our team who work so hard so that the horses perform well. This was the case of Oli Chicha; she had very good matches thanks to being fully fit during the season.”
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